How to Find Your Center
by phoenixdown7
Summary: [HiJack - First 7 chapters uploaded at once] Jack is sent to the Isle of Berk in a series of unfortunate events, but in the midst of trying to find his way back to Burgess and his own time, he falls for a certain dragon-training, Viking hero who's all grown up. As is to be expected, it's all very confusing for everyone involved.
1. Chapter 1

AN: This is a FrostCup/HiJack fic…yeah, I don't know. I just got into this pairing very suddenly, okay? So here's a thing…

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 1

"Jack! Watch out!"

Jack had only a moment to spot Toothiana's widening eyes before he glanced to his right and dodged the black tendrils Pitch had thrown his way. He ended up spiraling out of control and into the moonlit clouds below, gripping his staff for dear life. He swung around for miles, the wind whipping him back and forth, the stars and clouds blurring in his vision, but he just managed to regain control before he could crash right into the second story window of a convenience store.

He landed on the damp asphalt of the parking lot and sucked in a breath just as Aster loped passed him.

"Close one, mate!" The rabbit smirked and threw his boomerang at an unsuspecting Nightmare. The horse divided in two with a piercing scream and it evaporated. Then Aster was gone, leaping far ahead.

"What is he doing back?!" Jack questioned, but no one was there to hear him.

He ran after Aster and jumped upward, letting his toes skim the grass of someone's lawn. The ground rushed beneath him as he peered up into the night sky, and he narrowed his eyes, trying to see past the cloud cover. He couldn't see anything for a long time, but then the clouds parted just enough to reveal the black spider web of Pitch's power entangled with Sandy's golden ropes.

Gotcha.

Jack pushed off the ground with both feet and shot upward, letting the wind carry him into the fray.

He had no idea why Pitch was back or how he had become so powerful again. Jack and the other Guardians had been doing well since Pitch had last fallen back into that dark and creepy hole he called home. In the year that had followed, they'd been able to regain most of the young believers they'd lost, and now their powers were nearly restored to full capacity. Pitch had become a distant memory, barely even a bad dream, but now here he was, attacking out of the blue. And he was powerful, which didn't make sense. Something bad had to have happened, and it definitely gave Jack a foreboding feeling.

He gripped his staff tighter and swung toward the battle, only to almost get decapitated by North and his sleigh. Jack swallowed a yelp of alarm and flipped backward just before North crossed his path at a dizzying speed.

"Sorry, Jack! Should watch where you are going, I think!" North shouted back to him on the wind.

"Right. Thanks," Jack hissed, clutching at his chest where his heart beat a mile a minute. He eyed the man as he plowed his sleigh straight through a gaggle of Nightmares and reduced them to a cloud of dust.

Toothiana fluttered to his side and lay a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, Jack?"

"Yeah, fine," he replied, pulling his hand away from his chest and focusing back on the main skirmish between Sandy and Pitch above. Their attacks nearly blocked out the moonlight as the two danced across the sky, gold and black sand shooting out in all directions.

"I can't believe he's back," Toothiana said, mirroring his thoughts as she, too, took in the scene. Sandy's golden light was reflected in her wide eyes and it flickered across her features.

"Me neither," Jack grimaced. He eyed Toothiana. The same wind that whipped through his hair, ruffled her feathers in a dramatic fashion. He grinned. "Let's give him a proper welcome."

Toothiana's eyes flashed an iridescent purple, then she nodded, the cupid's bow of her lips tugging up into an answering grin. "Ready when you are."

As if on cue, an army of baby-Tooths swarmed up behind her, chattering excitedly.

Jack smiled wide, all teeth, and swung his staff forward, gripping it with both hands. He scanned the sky until he found Pitch again, standing upon his night-sand and dodging Sandy's lashes. Pitch was monologuing, but Jack couldn't hear the words over the wind rushing past his ears. He was grateful for that, at least. He took aim and felt the power build in his core, just waiting to be unleashed.

Now or never.

"Hey, Pitch!" Jack shouted. "Welcome back!"

He let his power explode out of him, crackling along the length of his staff and leaping into the air. It crystallized into a deadly ice structure that grew at a voracious pace. He could see the moment Pitch noticed what was headed his way, his golden eyes growing wide in the white glow of Jack's power. The length of Pitch's body stiffened like a lightning rod just before the ice hit him full force with a sickening crack.

Jack crowed in triumph and punched a fist into the air, but the sound died swiftly in his throat. He could feel something happening to his ice before he saw it. Black lines were spiking through the crystal monument he'd erected in his attack, infecting it like a virus. He only had a moment to realize his celebration had been premature, dread jolting through him, before his ice structure exploded outward and shot sharp shards in every direction.

Without thinking, he flipped in the air just in time to shield Toothiana, and he took the brunt of the blast.

He felt the ice pierce his back, and she stared back at him, wide-eyed.

When he gasped in a breath, it felt like glass shards were imbedded in his lungs.

Ow. That hurt.

A lot.

"Jack?" Tooth questioned breathlessly.

He doubled forward and leaned against her, his strength draining out of him with every attempt he made to gulp in air.

She snaked her arms under his armpits and struggled to hold him up, but he could feel himself slipping through her trembling hold.

He tried to speak, but he couldn't. He could barely move, and it hurt so much to breathe. He could only stare back at her, her face swimming in his vision.

"Jack, I can't hold you up much longer!" Toothiana whispered, sounding desperate now, her voice breaking.

He heard Pitch laugh mockingly somewhere behind him. "Say farewell to being a Guardian, Jack!"

Jack stared at Tooth's anxious expression, attempting to gather some strength in his limbs, but even he knew this was bad. There was a blackness creeping in from the edges of his vision and his limbs were stiff and unresponsive. Tooth shifted, droplets gathering at the corners of her eyes, and just like that, he slipped through her weakening hold, gravity pulling him straight back down through the blanket of clouds below.

"Jack!" she cried, but he couldn't see her through the mist.

He was engulfed by the cumulus until he shot through to the other side, his immobile body spinning uncontrollably in his descent back to earth.

"Jack!"

He squinted and spotted the unmistakable silhouette of North's sleigh plummeting toward him through the cloud cover, but he doubted he would be able to reach him. Even Jack knew the laws of physics, and North's sleigh didn't have the extra propulsion necessary to overtake Jack's free fall.

Jack swallowed, struggling to move his limbs in a last valiant effort, but everything hurt and the blackness that had started to creep into the corners of his vision was now threatening to blind him. He could even feel the cold entering his body, something he hadn't felt in centuries. He shivered. It was as if something foreign was slithering into him from the ice in his back.

He closed his eyes, finding them stinging and wet. So this was it, huh? This was how it ended. He couldn't believe it.

Guardians were supposed to be immortal, right? As long as children believed. But no, Sandy had died once when children had still believed in him, and Jack didn't think he'd be able to resurrect himself the way Sandy had. Sandy was a special -

He was startled out of his thoughts when North's sleigh punched through the cloud cover and Jack could see him silhouetted against the full moon behind him. He smiled crookedly at the man's tenacity, his grasp on reality slipping with every ragged breath.

"Hang on, Jack!" North bellowed, just as he pulled his arm all the way back and lobbed something at him.

Jack only had a moment to wonder what the old man was doing before he felt a blast of air below him and he was forced to flip over midair. He stared, wide-eyed, straight down into an open portal, and verdant green filled his vision.

One moment he was falling through cold, black night, and the next he was crashing into grass and dirt, the nerves in his battered body exploding with pain.

He didn't even have a chance to react before the darkness that had been threatening to overcome him since Pitch's attack finally succeeded, and he lost consciousness.

….

"Do you think he's dead?"

"He's breathing, isn't he?"

Jack groaned and forced his sticky eyes open. Then he hastily squinted against the light that singed his retinas, because ow. Even so, he could make out four silhouettes hovering over him, their oddly shaped figures haloed in bright sunlight from behind. "Wha-?"

"Dude," one of the bulkier figures prodded him in the chest. "Are you alive?"

"Uh…" he replied.

"I think he is," another horned figure observed.

"What are you guys doing?" Someone shoved their way through the gap between the middle two. "Why have you landed? What are you –? Oh." The figure stopped when they seemed to notice him. "Who…are you?"

"Um…Jack?" he uttered, and blinked a bit to clear his vision. He looked up at the group of them and their features slowly came into focus. There were two who looked like twins, a boy and a girl, with long blond hair, wearing a pair of odd, long-horned helmets; the newcomer was a blonde girl with a fur-lined hood draped over her armored shoulders; then there was a bulky boy with black hair and a pug nose, who was wearing what Jack could only assume was an incredibly fuzzy throw rug; and beside him was an even bulkier boy with buck teeth who was taller and wider than the rest. They all looked to be about his age, or at least, his physical age, before he'd died, and they were all staring down at him with varying degrees of interest. That's when Jack's thought-process ground to a halt, because they clearly weren't children and they were all staring down at him…with interest… "Wait…can you see me?"

The teens all looked at each other.

"Is that a trick question?" the male twin asked, scratching the sparse hairs on his chin.

Jack gingerly pushed himself up into a sitting position, adrenaline pumping through his veins. "You all can hear me, too?"

"Yehhhss," the pug-nosed one answered slowly, raising a thick dark eyebrow and eyeing his friends. "I don't think this one's sane. We should throw him back."

"Why do you ask?" the blonde girl questioned, ignoring her friend. She watched Jack warily, her posture tense. "Where are you from?"

"I…" And then he remembered it, the battle with Pitch, the shards of ice, the portal. He shot to his feet, startling the others. The blonde girl actually pulled out an axe. Jack's eyes widened in alarm. "Woah! Woah!"

"Um…Astrid?" the buck toothed one muttered nervously, eyes shooting between her and Jack.

Her eyes narrowed, and she didn't relax her stance. "What are you doing here on Berk, Jack, if that is your real name?"

Jack snorted, laughter bubbling out of him. "Seriously?"

She glared. "Just answer the question or I will cut you."

Jack looked at her axe then back at her. "Right. Is this how you normally greet people?" He paused for a moment, remembering what her friend had called her. "Astrid, if that is your real name?"

The blond twins actually snickered and Jack grinned at them. Astrid didn't look any less murderous. If anything, she looked worse.

Jack put out his hands, placating, when she raised her axe. "Look, I'm not from around here."

"Obviously," she scoffed. "Where are you from and how did you get here?"

"Right," he continued warily, trying to think of what he could tell her. He decided against letting her and her friends in on the whole portal thing. He wasn't sure they would believe him. He looked about and couldn't see his staff anywhere either, and he felt a pang of loss. He'd probably dropped it after Pitch's attack and it didn't come with him through North's portal, which meant he was basically powerless. There was no way he could prove he was a Guardian without it. Think, Jack, think. "I…um…don't remember?"

Smooth, Jack. Real smooth.

They all just stared at him. Astrid's eyes were narrowed in suspicion, but at least she lowered her axe.

"Where are your shoes?" the male twin asked.

Jack startled and looked down at his bare feet, staring at his toes, which were oddly pink in the sunlight. "I don't wear shoes." He looked up to see Astrid frowning, and he rolled his shoulders in what he hoped looked like a casual shrug. Maybe he wasn't supposed to remember the shoe thing either. "I guess."

Nailed it.

He avoided her scrutiny by inspecting his fingernails, which were also fairly pink in a way that was starting to raise alarm bells. He uncurled his fingers and stared at the palm of his hand then the back, biting his lip. His heart beat quickened and he could actually feel his cheeks flush with warmth.

Oh.

"Um…what are you doing?" the bulkiest one questioned nervously, voice breaking.

Jack snapped his attention up to the others. They were all watching him with varying degrees of wariness. He opened and then closed his mouth soundlessly, before he peered around the cove he seemed to have landed in. He spotted a pond with a placid surface and scrambled over to it, ignoring the prickling sensation in his feet as he stepped over sharp rocks and brambles. He collapsed at the bank and stared into the water, his face coming into view. His breath hitched. His cheeks were flushed and rosy, and even in the frigid water's reflection the eyes staring back at him were brown, not blue, beneath brown, not white, hair.

Something swooped in his stomach.

"I'm alive," he whispered.

The teens came up behind him and peered into the water as well, frowning.

"What?" Astrid questioned, staring down at his reflection.

"I'm alive!" he shouted, shooting up to his feet.

The other teens startled, but he was too euphoric to care. He jumped about, feeling the warmth of the blood pumping to his extremities, something he hadn't felt in over 300 years. He laughed. "I'm alive!"

"Does anyone else suddenly wish he wasn't?" the pug-nosed one questioned, and both of the twins raised their hands, but Jack didn't care.

He was too lost in his discovery, in the utter wonder of it. He was human again! He bounced about the clearing, feeling the soft mulch of the earth between his warm toes.

Astrid shoved the pug-nosed teen in the arm anyway. "Shut up, Snotlout."

"But how?" Jack questioned out loud, giddiness turning to confusion as he stared at his hands. Somehow, he had turned human again. He didn't think even the Man in the Moon could do that.

"You mean you weren't alive, before this?" Astrid questioned cautiously, approaching him again.

Jack looked up at her. At least she wasn't carrying her axe this time, but she still didn't look altogether welcoming either. "I…" he sobered. He wasn't sure how to explain this. It wasn't like he hadn't been alive before. He just hadn't been mortal, or human. But now he was, and he could barely believe it.

His stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.

She stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. "You're not a Viking, are you?"

"A what?" he asked, still getting over the fact that he was feeling hunger for the first time in over 300 years and glancing down at his stomach in wonder.

"A Viking," she repeated, gesturing at Snotlout's hat for emphasis.

"Um…no." He shook his head. He eyed them all in their strange garb, and something other than emptiness sunk in his stomach. "But you are, aren't you?"

"That would be correct," the big one stated helpfully. "I'm Fishlegs, this is Ruffnut and Tuffnut," he gestured to the twins. "And you already know Astrid, and that's Snotlout." He gestured to the mean looking one Astrid had already identified. "We're all members of the Hooligan tribe of Berk, to be exact."

"Right." Jack nodded. "I have no idea what any of that means."

"It means if you try anything…" Astrid began, and Snotlout crushed a fist into his palm menacingly in the background. Astrid glanced back at the rest of the teens and they all nodded to her.

Jack frowned in confusion, but Astrid put two fingers in her mouth and blew out a high pitched whistle. Something rustled beyond the stone walls of the cove and Jack nearly choked on his spit, because giant, colorful lizards with wings of all shapes and sizes dropped heavily onto the ground around him. The lizards squawked and screeched as they rose above him, flanking the Viking teens like overly protective pets.

Astrid smirked. "We've got dragons, and we're not afraid to use them."

"Woah," Jack breathed. He definitely wasn't in Burgess anymore, which was very worrisome, but also… "Cool."

"I like him," the female twin, Ruffnut, decided, her thin lips curling into a smile as one head of her two-headed dragon (oh my god) bumped against her helmet.

"I'm undecided," Tuffnut (seriously, what was with these names?) disagreed, picking one of his nostrils with a pinky finger.

"Will you cooperate?" Astrid asked, ignoring her friends' antics and leveling Jack with a steely-eyed look.

"Since when have I not cooperated?" Jack questioned lightly, moving to lean on his staff until he realized it wasn't there so he just stumbled a bit instead.

"Right…" Astrid eyed him.

Jack tried not to wince. Today was not exactly going his way. Actually, he couldn't quite decide how his day was going. He still couldn't process it, but he was probably going to worry about it later. A lot.

"We'll take him back to the village," Astrid sighed, pushing a hand through her bangs and scratching her dragon beneath its head. It trilled, seeming to enjoy it. "Maybe Stoick will know what to do with him."

"What about Hiccup?" Fishlegs asked, twiddling his fingers together.

"What about him?" Snotlout sneered.

"Wouldn't he want to know about…" he eyed Jack warily. "Our guest?"

"He's not here," Astrid replied, and there was something hollow in her voice, her expression downcast. "And we don't know when he'll be back."

The other teens stared at her and the pregnant pause that followed could only be described as uncomfortable.

"Okay, but he's not riding with us," Tuffnut broke in. "Ruffnut's enough."

"Hey!" Ruffnut punched him in the arm, and her brother retaliated until they were punching each other with abandon, their dragon's heads joining in, slamming into each other behind them.

"Fine," Astrid waved them off, looking tired rather than alarmed, like this was all just par for the course. "Just go back. I'll take him."

"Your funeral," Snotlout snickered and hopped onto his dragon's neck.

Astrid just shook her head as the other teens mounted their dragons and rose up into the air. Jack watched them all, awestruck, until they were out of sight.

"You've never seen a dragon before, have you?" Astrid questioned, bringing him back to earth.

Jack shrugged. "Not outside of storybooks, no. Honestly, I'm still trying to convince myself that they exist."

"You seem oddly accepting, though," she observed, placing a hand on her hip.

Jack shrugged again and rubbed the nape of his neck. "I've seen a lot of strange things."

"Hm," she hummed. Then turned around and mounted her dragon. She put out a hand to him. "This doesn't mean I trust you, exactly, but…hop on."

"Um…" he eyed the dragon with trepidation. It eyed him back, twitching its head and squawking like a parakeet. He wasn't exactly a Guardian anymore so he couldn't just fly away if the dragon decided to drop him out over the ocean.

"Just get on." Astrid rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine. I promise. Unless you'd rather walk ten miles."

"Okay," Jack relented, but put up a finger. "But only one ride."

"Like I'm doing this again," Astrid muttered, and she pulled Jack up onto the saddle behind her. He only just swung a leg over the girth of it before she looked back at him, an evil gleam in her eye. "Okay, hold on!"

They rose into the air with one powerful wing beat and then they were flying forward. Well, more like bouncing forward, if he wanted to be accurate. He whooped in delight at first, grabbing Astrid's shoulders with an iron grip, but eventually, about five minutes later, he started to feel a bit sick. He wasn't used to this level of turbulence. It was a lot bumpier than North's sleigh and even the wind, when it decided to cooperate. The only thing he could do was concentrate on the horizon with its strangely pointy peaks jutting out of a thick forest that apparently covered what he now could assume was an island. The island of Berk, apparently. Strange name – he eyed the girl in front of him, the axe strapped to her hip glinting in the sun – to match its strange people.

Eventually, they rounded the largest peak he'd seen so far on the island and flew over a cove where a tall rock arch jutted out over the dark water below. He could just make out some buildings scattered over the point where the arch met the island and widened into a grass-covered, triangular rock surface. Astrid nodded to him over her shoulder, pointing down at the village below.

"Here we are. Home sweet home."

They descended, the sunset light glinting off of the water and painting the pointed rooftops orange. The village was crude, but he had to admit, it definitely had its appeal. They landed heavily in what looked to be the village center, and Jack wasted no time in hopping off, finding nothing in his vicinity to lean on and missing his staff. He settled for stumbling a bit instead, until he could regain the feeling in his legs. Astrid dismounted gracefully behind him and stepped around him.

"Follow me," she muttered, gesturing to him with a wave of her hand.

Now that he really looked about, he noticed the village was deserted, unless he counted the few odd dragons milling about or sleeping on rooftops like giant, fire-breathing barn owls.

"Everyone's in the Great Hall," she answered his unasked question. "Eating dinner."

Jack's stomach rumbled again and he patted it, anticipation growing for food of any kind. He hadn't eaten in over…yeah, it had been a really long time.

He followed her up a series of steps that lead to a gigantic, round-roofed building with large double doors flanked by two crudely shaped Viking statues. Large bowls of fire were lit above the statues, their flickering light burning brighter now that the sun was almost below the horizon and dark clouds were moving in. Astrid pushed one door open with a loud creak and he slipped in after her, immediately enveloped in warmth. He couldn't help staring in awe at the torch lit interior with its wooden pillars and statues all surrounding an enormous pit of fire that crackled merrily in the center of the hall.

And yep, those were definitely Vikings eating at the tables. They were all generally heavy set and wearing various cuts of leather and iron studs. He swore most of them had thighs that were thicker than his torso, although that may have been an exaggeration. A lot of them stopped eating and eyed him with interest the moment he stepped further into the hall, but then a man bigger than all of them lumbered toward him with single-minded purpose. Astrid stepped aside and Jack stared up at the man, wide-eyed. He reminded him a lot of North, if he had auburn hair…

"Who's this, then?" the Viking grunted.

…And a Scottish accent. Right. Was he the only one in this village with a Scottish accent, or…?

"Who are you?" Another Viking echoed, stepping up beside his friend on a false, metal leg that clomped loudly on the wooden floor boards.

Yeah, not the only one with a Scottish accent, apparently. Good to know.

"Stoick, Gobber, this," Astrid gestured to him. "Is Jack. We found him at the cove."

"Technically, I found him," Snotlout corrected, stepping up behind her.

"Yeah," Ruffnut agreed, joining the group with her brother and Fishlegs in tow. "And we helped."

"We thought he was dead," Tuffnut added with a smile. "But he's not."

Jack eyed them all. None of the teenagers seemed to have Scottish accents, even though the adults did. Weird.

"Where are you from, lad?" Stoick asked, his green eyes falling upon him again.

"Uh…" Jack spluttered. "I can't remember?"

He could feel Astrid watching him with narrowed eyes, but Stoick only grunted, "Hm."

"Did yeh hit your head on a rock?" Gobber asked, pushing his tongue against what looked like a pebble where a tooth should be. Toothiana would have had a fit.

"I dunno," Jack replied. "Maybe."

"Tha'd do it!" the man agreed. "Nothing like a rock to the 'ead to addle the brain. I know a lot abou' that."

"You don't say," Jack stated wryly.

The twins snickered again. He grinned at them. Those two were definitely growing on him. They obviously knew how to have fun, but he felt a slight pang in his chest at that thought. He used to be the Guardian of fun, but now he was just Jack. The anxiety he should have felt earlier began to creep in. Being human again was cool and all, but what if he never got back to the other Guardians or the children of Burgess? What if he never got his powers back?

"Well, I suppose you can stay here until you regain your memories," Stoick sighed. "As long as you play by the rules and – "

Suddenly, there was a loud creak and groan from behind Jack, followed by some rolling thunder. Stoick's eyes widened and he closed his mouth, cutting himself off.

Jack turned around to see what all the fuss was about just as Astrid breathed out a soft, "Hiccup?"

He took in the teen standing in the doorway, his hair and leather armor glistening and wet from the freak downpour outside. His lean form was haloed in a flash of lightning and the flickering fire of the torches, and Jack's stomach summersaulted up into his rib cage, because…wow. The boy ran a hand through his wet locks, pushing them back from his face, and he gazed at them all with a slight smile that bordered on cautious, before his green eyes fell on Jack and his dark brows knit in curiosity.

Flashbacks of Jack's life before he'd drowned swirled through his mind, taunting him with memories of forbidden feelings for long lost friends, people he had been told by his Puritan culture were completely off limits, people who would have never reciprocated but would have rebuffed him in disgust. All of those feelings and fears came rushing back from his first life in an instant, and he suddenly found it very, very hard to breathe.

Oh.

Oh, he was so screwed.

….

AN: Um…I wrote most of this at work…what even…don't tell, okay? I don't want to lose my job.

Oh, and I'm Lampfury on Tumblr, btw. Forgot to mention that earlier. Follow or message me there if you ever feel the urge. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 2

The moment the overwhelmingly…well-proportioned (Yeah, let's go with that) leather-armored teen stepped into the hall, dripping water all over the stone floor, he was swarmed by well-wishers. Jack watched, frozen in place beside Astrid, as Vikings, young and old, greeted the newcomer and ruffled his hair affectionately. All the while, the teen looked a bit uncomfortable, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Who is that?" Jack breathed.

"That's Hiccup," Fishlegs replied from over his left shoulder.

"Hiccup?" Jack uttered, dumbfounded.

"Yeah." Fishlegs nodded, biting his lip and smiling. "It's sort of the Viking name for the runt of the litter."

"That's what you call a runt?" Jack questioned in disbelief. He was pretty sure the teen was about his height and he'd never thought of himself as particularly short.

"Um…" Fishlegs scratched the back of his neck, knitting his brows. "He used to be pretty small."

"And then what happened?" Jack questioned dumbly, not taking his eyes off the teen who was now getting pulled into a messy kiss on the cheek by a particularly robust woman wearing a ram-horned helmet.

"Well," Fishlegs said, twiddling his fingers together. "He became the first Viking to train a dragon? And then he defeated the Red Death."

"The Red Death?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"A huge dragon that lived inside the pit of a volcano," Fishlegs explained, voice cracking with giddy excitement. "It was about a mile long with three sets of eyes on either side of its head. Its fire could incinerate an entire flotilla of Viking ships with one blast. It controlled the other dragons, like a queen in a bee hive. The dragons were raiding the village for hundreds of years, taking our food and livestock, and we were fighting them, but Hiccup discovered what was really going on. They were only bringing offerings to the Red Death, and if they didn't, it would eat them."

"Woah," Jack uttered, eyebrows rising in awe, not sure he believed it. "And Hiccup killed it?"

"Yeah, him and Toothless," Fishlegs replied.

"Hey, we helped!" Snotlout broke in from behind them. "I poked it in the eye with a hammer."

"And we annoyed it," Tuffnut added.

"A lot." His sister grinned.

"Yeah," Tuffnut smirked. "We're pretty good at that."

"Very true," Fishlegs agreed amiably.

"Toothless?" Jack questioned.

"Hiccup's dragon." Fishlegs smiled with a shrug.

"Right," Jack muttered, wondering if the name was meant to be descriptive, because a toothless dragon was a whole new level of absurd. "Of course."

They all watched a cooing woman wrap Hiccup up in a bear hug then, picking him up off the ground so that his feet, or at least his foot and what appeared to be a metal limb, dangled helplessly in the air.

"Oof!" Hiccup huffed over her broad shoulder, grimacing and chuckling breathlessly. "Oh…eheheh… thanks, really. That's soo…_ow_! Okay, I love you too, Gerda…yeah…"

Jack startled at the sound of his voice. It almost didn't fit with the rest of him. It was more nasal than he'd expected. Actually, if he was honest, hearing it did weird things to his insides, which he really wished would stop. Like, now.

"All righ', tha's enough, you lot! Let the boy breathe!" Gobber shooed the crowd out of the way and they scattered like a herd of cattle, lumbering away as he hobbled over to Hiccup. Gobber clapped him on the shoulders and grinned toothily. "Heccup! Good to see yeh back!" Then the man turned and raised a brow at Stoick meaningfully. "I'm sure your father has missed you as well."

Hiccup and Stoick locked gazes and shared an awkward silence.

Jack eyed them both skeptically. Those two were related? It was hard to believe. Seriously, the size differential alone was enough to cast doubt. It looked like Stoick could fit about three Hiccups inside of him. Jack immediately wished he hadn't thought that because that image was disturbing.

Gobber, for his part, was busy sending Stoick a significant look as the silence dragged on, his bushy, blond eyebrows rising. Stoick finally let out a gusty sigh and deflated, his wide shoulders sinking. "Good to see you home, Hiccup."

Hiccup's lips twitched up into a strained smile, his brows knitted, but he rolled his shoulders in a half-hearted shrug. "Thanks, dad."

You could cut the tension between them with a butter knife, Jack was pretty sure. It was awkward.

"Good," Gobber broke into the thick silence, and then muttered, under his breath, "Now that tha's over with." He gestured with his prosthetic hook-hand to Jack. "It seems today has been full of surprises. You missed a new arrival."

Jack stiffened when Hiccup's green gaze landed on him for the second time since he'd arrived. His palms started to sweat without his permission and he didn't quite know what to do with his face. In the end, he settled for what he hoped was a neutral, possibly suave, expression. He could feel the muscles in his jaw twitch oddly, though, so he probably looked like he was having a mild seizure instead. Great.

"Uh…heyyy," Hiccup greeted awkwardly, gaze flicking over to the other Viking teens before settling on Jack again. "So…who are you aga –?"

"His name is Jack," Snotlout interrupted, clapping Jack on the back so hard he stumbled forward and lost a lot of the air in his lungs; at least, the rest of the air that hadn't already left him with Hiccup's arrival. Oh god. Jack shook his head. There was something very wrong with him if that was seriously a phrase that had passed through his mind; especially if it was based on fact.

"I found him in the cove," Snotlout continued obliviously. Then he leaned toward Hiccup, lowering his voice and raising a hand to his mouth theatrically. "I think he's crazy."

The twins nodded in agreement.

"Oh-kaay…" Hiccup stated, eyebrows knitting and mouth hanging open a bit, clearly at a loss.

Jack turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Snotlout, because seriously? Not cool.

"For Thor's sake," Astrid scoffed. "He's not crazy. He's just…"

"Mentally unstable?" Fishlegs supplied helpfully.

Okay, that was just…Jack glared at him, his face heating. "I'm not mentally unstable, I just…um…" he trailed off, wracking his brain for some sort of explanation, because he couldn't exactly reveal the truth. Then he really would sound insane. "Hit my head on a rock."

Yeah, smooth, Jack. You're really on a roll today.

The twins snickered and Jack ducked his head. This wasn't exactly the first impression he'd wanted to make.

"Right…uh," Hiccup frowned, and shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to his other…metal thing. Seriously, it was beginning to worry Jack how many limbs these people seemed to be missing. "Is that a joke, or…?"

"Whatever." Astrid let out a loud breath. "It doesn't matter. He isn't a threat." She waved Jack off dismissively, and he frowned, but she ignored him, stepping up into Hiccup's space. "What I wanna know is where you've been these last two months."

"Um…" Hiccup uttered, taking a half step back when she jabbed a finger against his leather plated chest.

"Ooooh," Tuffnut jeered.

"Lover's quarrel." Ruffnut grinned, and she and her brother shared a pleased look.

Jack didn't want to admit there was a pain in his stomach that felt like he'd been punched in the gut, because that would be stupid. The flush in his cheeks was stupid too, along with that uncomfortable squeezing sensation in his chest region. In fact, being human again was feeling pretty stupid overall now, and he didn't like it. If he was still a Guardian, his heart would probably be melting right about now, but given that thought, he suspected his brain was probably the thing that was melting. And it sucked.

Both Hiccup and Astrid snapped out of their argument long enough to send the twins a look, Hiccup doing a pretty good impression of a deer caught in the headlights and Astrid going the more vengeful huntress route, what with the narrowed eyes and fisted hands. The twins snickered again, completely unfazed. So Astrid shook her head at them and turned her attention back to Hiccup. The teen stiffened and pressed his lips together until they were barely visible, his cheeks puffing out a bit like he was holding his breath.

"Well?" Astrid prompted, tone icy.

"It hasn't been that long…has it?" Hiccup offered shakily, bouncing once on the souls of his feet as his lips twitched up into a nervous smile.

"Yes," Astrid insisted sharply. "It has."

"Um…" Hiccup uttered, eyes darting to everything but her. "Sorry…I…hadn't noticed."

Astrid must have looked particularly murderous, because Hiccup winced, turning his head away and closing his eyes.

"Oh, burn!" Snotlout exclaimed. "Even _I_ knew that was the wrong answer."

Jack could hear a slap, and realized Snotlout and Tuffnut must have high-fived behind him.

"Leave the lad alone, Astrid," Gobber interjected, saving Hiccup from her wrath by wrapping an arm around the teen's armored shoulders and pulling him to his bulkier side. "He's only just come back."

Astrid frowned, but she stepped away. Jack couldn't see her face, but when she spoke, there was a bitterness in her voice that hurt to hear. "Fine."

She stepped around them both and pushed her way out of the Great Hall, lightning flashed dramatically followed by a loud thunder clap, before the heavy wooden doors closed behind her.

The hall was drowned in silence for a bit, Snotlout and Fishlegs sharing a rare look with raised brows from where they stood on either side of Jack.

"Trouble in paradise," Tuffnut observed wickedly, and his sister snickered.

Gobber raised his brows exasperatedly in their general direction and clapped Hiccup on the back again. "Right. Well, don' worry, Heccup. I'm sure you two can talk it out like civilized Vikings tomorrow."

"Sure, Gobber." Hiccup nodded, but he didn't look convinced, his eyes downcast as he rubbed at the spot on his chest where Astrid had been prodding him moments before. "Right before she stabs me in my vital regions with her favorite axe."

"Technically, she'd slice you with it," Fishlegs corrected. "Axes aren't good weapons for stabbing."

Hiccup sent him a dry look, his eyebrows flattening over his heavy-lidded gaze. "Missing the point, Fishlegs."

"Oh, this is gonna be good. I can't wait to see the bloodbath," Snotlout sneered with delight from the corner of his mouth, and the twins nodded with identical grins.

"Shhh!" Fishlegs reprimanded, a finger to his lips.

"Thanks for the support, guys," Hiccup muttered wryly. "Knew I could count on you."

Jack had to admit, the teen displayed an unusual abundance of sass. He could give Bunnymund a run for his money. But that level of dry sarcasm coming out of Hiccup's mouth made Jack uncomfortable in a way that Bunnymund had never managed, and he really was not going to think about why that might be right now. Now was not the moment. In fact, no moment was the moment. Seriously, there was something obviously wrong with him and he wished it would stop.

"You're the one who left for two months without telling anyone," Snotlout pointed out to Hiccup with a frown, bringing Jack back to the topic at hand. Snotlout jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb. "If you ask me, Astrid's too good for you, and maybe you deserve to be stabbed by her axe!"

"Sliced," Fishlegs corrected quietly, just under his breath.

Hiccup didn't reply. In fact, he looked like he'd been slapped, his lips parted soundlessly.

"Woah," Ruffnut commented. "That's a little harsh."

"Whatever." Snotlout brushed it off, waving a hand in the air and frowning. He looked serious for the first time since Jack had met him. "I'm leaving."

They all watched in silence as Snotlout took his leave, bumping his shoulder roughly against Hiccup's on the way out. The doors slammed closed and they were all left staring at each other. Hiccup was looking down at the ground, frowning.

Stoick, who had largely been hovering in the background since his son had arrived, finally approached him and reached out, awkwardly hanging his hand in mid-air for a moment before he dropped it down over Hiccup's shoulder. He looked down at him long enough for the teen to raise his head and peer up at him through his dark bangs.

"Son, I…" the man's lips moved soundlessly for a moment. "I'll be back at the house. Don't stay out too late."

"Okay, dad," Hiccup replied softly, his entire posture and expression etched with discomfort.

Stoick nodded, pulling his hand away and stepping around him and Gobber to make his way out the door. The doors opened and closed with a heavy creak, the sound of wind and rain outside effectively muffled again by their formidable thickness.

Gobber sighed gustily, a look of frustration and understanding crossing his features. Then he manhandled Hiccup over to the nearest table and pushed him down onto a bench seat.

"Oof!" Hiccup grunted in clear dismay.

Gobber ignored him. "You must be hungry from your travels, Hiccup. Eat!"

A child with thick red pigtails sticking out on both sides of her head tentatively pushed her plate of meat across to Hiccup from her seat on the other side of the table. Hiccup smiled at her, his morose expression softening. "Thanks…uh…Halla?"

The girl squeaked and blushed beneath her freckles, nearly falling out of her seat in her excitement. "He knows my name!"

The thing in Jack's chest squeezed even tighter until it was downright uncomfortable. What could he say? Children were his kryptonite. It's what made him such a good Guardian. And the fact that kids in this village seemed to really look up to Hiccup like he was some sort of hero, well…yeah, he was pretty much screwed.

Then his stomach growled again, loud in the silence, and he stiffened when everyone but Hiccup eyed him.

"Sit down, Jack." Gobber gestured toward the spot beside Hiccup. "There's plenty of food to go around."

Jack nodded. "Right. Thanks."

He faltered on his way to the table, but then he shook his head, and forced his feet forward. He plopped down beside Hiccup as carelessly as he could manage, shooting him a grin for good measure, but the Viking only nodded to him absently, his gaze far away as he chewed on the lone mackerel that was buried amidst the pile of meat on his plate.

"You lot should eat as well," Gobber stated, addressing the rest of the teens behind them.

"We already did," Tuffnut drawled, eyes at half-mast and rubbing the slight paunch of his belly. He made a show of yawning. "And now...bed."

Ruffnut nodded in agreement, and followed her brother out of the hall, looking equally bored.

"See ya, Footless," Tuffnut called on his way out.

"G'night, Tuffnut, Ruffnut," Hiccup muttered dryly in reply without turning around, but he mirrored Tuffnut's gesture by raising his own hand in farewell.

"I'll be turning in as well," Gobber said, slapping a plate full of meat in front of Jack and cuffing the back of Hiccup's head with his hook-hand. "Welcome home, Hiccup."

Hiccup turned around to regard him, his lips finally twitching up into a genuine smile that lit the green of his eyes. "Thanks, Gobber."

"And take care of this one, will yeh?" Gobber continued, gesturing to Jack. "A rock to the 'ead is no laughing matter. And he has nowhere to stay for the night."

"Yeah, that's really not –" Jack began hastily at the same time that Hiccup spoke, drowning out his weak protest.

"Uhm…what? But Gobber…" Hiccup stuttered in the face of the man's steady stare. His brows knit and his green gaze flicked over to Jack as his mouth moved soundlessly. Then he snapped it shut, his shoulders drooping. "Alright…good…that's…I guess you'll be staying with me, then."

He hardly sounded enthused, but Jack's stomach did an uncomfortable swoopy summersault thing just the same. He wasn't sure if he should celebrate, or mourn the impending loss of his dignity, because he was pretty sure that was what was going to happen. Unless he could learn to control his flesh and blood body after 300 plus years of essentially having ice running through his veins, it was only a matter of time at this point.

"Good lad." Gobber smiled. "And get the lad some boots before his wee toes freeze off. I'll let Stoick know on me way home."

"Right...Thanks," Hiccup replied weakly and watched Gobber hobble away.

Fishlegs somehow managed to squeeze in between the girl and her mother on the other side of the table, and he grinned at Hiccup in naked excitement.

"You're not going to yell at me, too, are you, Fishlegs?" Hiccup muttered once he turned back around in his seat, eyeing the larger boy from beneath his drying bangs.

"No," Fishlegs replied gently.

"Well, that's a relief," Hiccup murmured dolefully, picking at the remaining fish on his plate with the tines of his fork.

"So," Fishlegs began, scooting forward in his seat. "Where's Toothless?"

"He's back at the house. Probably sleeping," Hiccup replied, pushing a hand through his damp hair and making it stand up at odd angles until it settled back into place again. "We've been flying all day."

"Where did you go?"

"Oh, you know." Hiccup shrugged, and sketched a loop in the air with his forefinger. "Around. Toothless and I found a bunch of new islands, and ran into a few dragons I've never seen before." He dug around and pulled some rolled up paper out of one of the many leather satchels Jack could see strapped to his thigh.

Fishlegs's eyes lit up when Hiccup handed it to him, and then they widened when he unrolled the papers with bated breath and looked them over. "Oooh, these look vicious!"

"I've got the minor burns to prove it." Hiccup agreed, his lips tugging up a bit.

"Do you think they can be trained?" Fishlegs asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Hiccup frowned. "We'd probably have to work at it. I couldn't really get that close because they travel in packs, and if their propensity to shoot fireballs is any indication, they're really protective of their young."

Jack frowned and couldn't help leaning forward, curious to see as well, but Fishlegs rolled the parchments back up obliviously and grinned. "I'll add them to the book."

"I leave them in your capable hands," Hiccup stated with a slight smile.

Hiccup resumed staring down at his plate and Fishlegs put down the parchments and eyed him, biting his lip.

Hiccup paused in listlessly playing with his food and glanced up at him questioningly.

"So, why did you leave in the first place?" Fishlegs questioned timidly, lowering his voice.

Hiccup stilled, and dropped his fork on his plate, then sighed. "It's…complicated." He shrugged, and his gaze flicked over to Jack for split second, looking uncomfortable. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"Fair enough," Fishlegs said agreeably. "I'm glad you're back though. Everyone's –"

Jack's stomach chose that inopportune moment to growl again, very loudly, and both Vikings looked at him.

"Whoops." Jack chuckled, face heating. He'd completely forgotten he was hungry. "Sorry." He looked down at his plate of meat and gingerly picked up his knife and fork, only to stare at the utensiles in his hands.

"You…uh…all right there?" Hiccup questioned.

"Yeah, no, totally," Jack promised. "It's just…I haven't eaten in a really long time. I've almost forgotten how to use these."

Hiccup's widening eyes darted over to Fishlegs.

"Told you," Fishlegs whispered, but loudly enough for everyone sitting at the long table to hear.

"I'm not crazy," Jack insisted, brandishing his fork for emphasis, but he realized he wasn't convincing anyone, and he sighed at the looks he was getting.

"I didn't say that," Fishlegs denied, wide-eyed and innocent.

"No, but you were thinking it." Jack accused, then shook his head. "Just…whatever. Forget it. Don't worry about me. I've got this."

"Oh-kaay…" Hiccup agreed, nodding but he was clearly skeptical, frowning as he and Fishlegs traded wide-eyed looks.

Jack stabbed a smallish piece of meat that looked to be some sort of poultry like substance with his fork and raised it to his face, staring at it. Right, he could do this. Piece of cake. Or piece of chicken. Whatever. He shoved it into his mouth and chewed, waiting for some sort of flavor to burst across his tongue, but nothing happened. He grimaced. It didn't really taste like anything. Were his taste buds malfunctioning? He swallowed, forcing the rubbery morsel down with a wince. "I don't think my tongue is working."

"Yeah…no, sorry. It's not you. It's the food," Hiccup commented sympathetically, eyeing his reaction with an apologetic smile. "This village isn't exactly known for its cuisine. It's all pretty tasteless."

"But is the meat always this tough and – ?"

"Rubbery?" Fishlegs cut in.

Jack nodded, actually feeling a bit nauseous.

"Yep." Fishlegs replied with a smile, and then he took a generous bite out of his giant chicken leg. "You get used to it."

"Some people get used to it," Hiccup corrected, before glancing at Jack. "I stick to the fish. It tends to be less bland and chewy."

"Great," Jack muttered. The one place where he had to come back to life also had to have the worst food imaginable. Just his luck. His stomach rumbled forlornly. "Do you have any more of that fish?"

"Uh…" Fishlegs uttered, eyes scanning the table. "I don't think so. Hiccup's usually the only one who eats it."

"And Halla, apparently," Hiccup added, eyeing the little girl across the table.

She blushed and smiled, revealing cute little gaps between her teeth. "I like whatever Hiccup likes!"

Jack grinned, that thing squeezing his chest again. She reminded him of little Sophie. He glanced at Hiccup, smile still firmly in place. "Looks like you've got yourself an admirer, Hic."

Hiccup began to shake his head but stilled when he caught his gaze, his eyes widening a bit. Jack raised an eyebrow in confusion. What? Was there something on his face? He hoped not. He'd embarrassed himself enough for one day.

Hiccup's cheeks flushed beneath his freckles inexplicably, and he released an awkward chuckle, looking away. "Eheh…it's not like that. You know kids." He gestured to Halla, who was snuggling a crudely sewn, cloth doll that looked suspiciously like a miniature Hiccup close to her chest. "They're easily impressed."

"I don't know, man." Jack fiddled with the fork in his hand, rolling it over the backs of his fingers. "Sometimes, I think children know more about the world than adults do. Besides, If it's true you singlehandedly defeated a dragon that was big enough to control other dragons, even I'm impressed," Jack admitted with a smile.

"Uh…" Hiccup curled his left hand in front of his mouth and coughed nervously. "You heard about that?"

"So, it's true then?" Jack questioned. He still found it hard to believe.

"Well…" Hiccup began, then he shrugged, smiling sheepishly. "More or less."

"It's how he lost his foot," Fishlegs stated the moment his mouth wasn't full of chicken.

"Really?" Jack uttered. "Sounds painful."

"Eh…" Hiccup rubbed at his nose, eyes flicking away. "It wasn't so bad. I wasn't exactly conscious for that part."

Jack's stomach rumbled again and he frowned down at it. It was so empty, it felt like it was eating itself.

"I've got some fish back at the house," Hiccup offered. "If you want it."

"Oooh!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "You mean the fish you feed Toothless?"

"Wait…your dragon?" Jack questioned, eyebrow rising in alarm. "Is that sanitary?"

"Oh, no, you don't understand." Fishlegs beamed. "That fish is of the highest quality, caught in the ocean far away from here. Hiccup doesn't even let us eat it."

"Seriously?" Jack uttered.

Hiccup shrugged. "It's the best diet for Toothless. Keeps him healthy. And it's hard to catch, so…uh…I don't usually…" He trailed off, looking sheepish.

"But you'd let me eat it?" Jack's heart actually skipped a beat, the traitor.

"Um…yeah, I mean." Hiccup's face turned scarlet again, eyes darting around. "You're starving, right? Don't want that."

"It takes days to fly out where the fish is," Fishlegs interjected, voice cracking with excitement. "You're so lucky!"

"Wow…I don't know," Jack stated, overwhelmed. "I don't want to impose. I can eat…" he stared down at the rubber poultry on his plate. "This."

"It's really not a problem," Hiccup insisted, sending Fishlegs an exasperated look. "We caught a lot on the way home. There's more than enough to share."

Jack tore his eyes away from the chicken. He had to admit he was relieved, so his resolve crumbled pretty quickly. "Okay," he smiled. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Hiccup shrugged.

They stared at each other, smiling, and Fishlegs coughed, eyes flicking between them.

"Right! Okay!" Hiccup jumped up from his seat, and stumbled a bit, metal foot getting stuck between the bench and the table before he managed to free himself. He looked a bit flustered, his face as red as a beet. "Just…uh…follow me."

"Cool." Jack smiled at him and stumbled out of his seat as well. His stomach felt like it was doing the chimichanga, and not because it was empty. He waved to Fishlegs, who was staring at him thoughtfully. "See ya, Fishlegs."

"Bye," the boy replied, and Jack turned to follow Hiccup out of the hall.

Fishlegs stared after them, speculation whirring in his head, but then he shrugged, smiling down at his chicken leg.

"That boy's weird," Halla announced from beside him, chewing into her own drumstick, pieces of meat stuck to her cheeks. "I like him."

Fishlegs chuckled. "I don't think you're the only one."

Things were about to get pretty interesting. Fishlegs could tell. He doubted Astrid was going to be nearly as amused as he was though. Maybe he should warn Hiccup?

Then he shook his head, biting into his chicken with gusto.

Nah. Hiccup could take care of himself. Or at least, Toothless would protect him.

He wasn't sure who would protect Jack, though.

…..

AN: Yeah…so I was gonna pack more actual plot into this chapter, but then it got too long, what with the introductions and drama and Hiccup dialog. So that'll just have to wait until the next chapter!

Hope this didn't suck monkeyballs. When I write dialog I basically think of the characters saying things in their voice actor's voices, so if Jack starts sounding like Captain James T. Kirk from Star Trek (or if Hiccup starts sounding like a pot-smoking Jay Baruchel from This is the End), just let me know. DX

Til next time, lovelies! Thanks for the comments, kudos, and Tumblr likes/reblogs on the previous chapter. It definitely helped me poop this one out. ;)


	3. Chapter 3

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 3

By the time they'd stopped in front of a building that looked vaguely like a house, Jack was shivering uncontrollably, his cold, wet hoody sticking to his shirt and freezing his skin. His feet had stopped feeling cold about a hundred steps ago. Now they were completely numb, his toes an angry red.

Hiccup glanced back at him just as he jiggled the knob of a side door. "You alright?"

"F-fine." Jack shivered, but tensed when something pelted him in the head. He looked around and realized it had started hailing balls of ice. Lightning flashed across the sky. "Your w-weather is c-crazy."

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed apologetically. "It's not the best." He pushed the door open.

Jack experienced one blissful moment of relief when he was bathed in the soft, warm glow of firelight, before something large and black barreled into Hiccup and pushed him to the side with a startled yelp. Then it pounced on Jack and knocked him to the ground, holding him down under the indescribable weight of a giant clawed foot. Jack stared up into brilliant green eyes that were slit like an angry cat's, and shouted, swinging his hands forward in self-defense. "Woah!"

"Toothless!" Hiccup uttered and then he wrapped his arms around the beast, tugging at its thick neck. "Get off of him, bud. He's a friend."

The cat-dragon warbled, obviously reluctant to leave Jack alone, but eventually it slid off, and Jack could breathe again. He sat up in the mud, gasping, and stared at the thing, wide-eyed. His life flashed before his eyes and he blinked. Toothless arched up beside Hiccup, growling, and demonstrating that he did, in fact, have teeth. Good to know.

"I'm sorry," Hiccup said, pressing a hand to Toothless's chest and moving slightly between the dragon and Jack. "He doesn't usually do that."

"It's alright." Jack coughed, pressing a hand to his sternum and waving Hiccup off. "Animals don't seem to like me very much," he continued, thinking of Bunnymund.

He climbed to his feet again, watching Toothless warily. Thunder rolled in the distance and the wind died down just enough for the hail to turn back into buckets of rain. He could feel mud slide down his bare back where it had gotten into his hoody, and he winced.

Hiccup eyed his dragon with a bemused frown, then began to push him back through the door. "Come on, bud. We need to get inside."

Toothless grumbled, but he did what he was told, letting Hiccup manhandle him back into the house.

Jack stepped into the warm room, his frozen feet stinging at the temperature difference. Toothless hopped up onto a raised platform on the other end of the room and shot a stream of fire out of his mouth. Then he turned in a circle like a dog chasing its tail before he settled down on top of the ring of fire he'd made. The dragon glared at him then, its lime-green eyes narrowed into slits.

"Is that thing house-trained?" Jack questioned, feet planted just inside the door.

"Toothless?" Hiccup questioned, and turned to glance back at Jack from where he'd been poking at some burning coals in the central fire pit. "I've never had to worry about that." But then he cocked a brow and side-eyed the dragon. "Accidentally setting fire to my prized possessions, on the other hand…"

"He doesn't have flaming poop, does he?" Jack asked, rubbing his hands together to get some feeling back into his fingers.

"What – ?" Hiccup uttered, looking dumbfounded. Then he shook his head. "You've never…seen dragons before, have you?"

"Uh…" Jack pretended to look thoughtful, placing a finger and thumb up to his chin. "No."

Hiccup frowned. "You must be from somewhere really far away then."

"Or some time," Jack muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing…it's not important," Jack replied, shivering again. "Is there anything I could – ?"

"Oh!" Hiccup jumped. "Yeah, sorry…here."

He turned away and riffled through some sort of wicker chest at the foot of his fur covered bed. He pulled out a green, long-sleeved tunic, the same color as the sleeves Jack could just see peeking out beneath Hiccup's leather armor, and handed it to Jack.

Jack took it with frost-bitten fingers. "Thanks."

He pushed his hoody and shirt off over his head, eager to peel the freezing wet garments off of his skin. He heard some sort of loud crash, but when he finally managed to get the garments off of his head and out of the way, he only saw Hiccup bending over the chest again, riffling through it at a frantic pace. Jack eyed him, gaze lingering on the teen's well-formed…he shook his head.

Snap out of it, Jack. You've only just turned mortal again. No need to risk your life so soon.

A memory of someone threatening him, someone he'd thought was a friend, flashed through his mind and he grimaced. That was new. Like the things he'd remembered back at the cove, he was starting to remember more from his past life, revealing more than the fateful day on the icy pond with his sister. It was like regaining his mortality had triggered something and he was becoming more and more his old self, the one who went by Jackson Overland, not Jack Frost.

Hiccup turned back around, but he didn't quite look at Jack when he held out a dark brown bundle. "I…uh…imagine you might want some dry pants, too."

"Oh…yeah, thanks," Jack replied distractedly, taking the pants.

"I'll just…uh…" Hiccup gestured to the opposite wall where a wooden desk sat, spot lit in torchlight and covered in piles of parchment and leather-bound books. "Yeah."

Hiccup walked over to it, unclasping the leather armor plates over his shoulders and chest as he went. Jack watched him peel off the leather and drop it beside the chair, before Hiccup plopped down into it and made a show of pushing some papers around on his desk.

Jack pulled the tunic on over his head, finding it almost just the right size, maybe a little longer than he was used to at the waist, but it was warm and he couldn't help the shiver that travelled up his spine at the contrast in temperature between his torso and his legs. He hopped out of his pants, cursing them for being so tight as he struggled to peel them from his skin. And then he had a decision to make.

Underwear or no underwear?

His underpants were as wet and cold as the rest of his clothing, and it stuck to his goose-pimpled skin uncomfortably. He glanced at Hiccup surreptitiously, making sure he was still turned away, and sighed.

The wet garment dropped to the floor at his feet with a heavy clap, and he stepped into the dry pants Hiccup had given him. Like the tunic, they were a bit longer than he was used to, but they fit remarkably well. Under all that bulky armor, Hiccup must have been pretty close to Jack's size and build. Once he tied the pants up at his waist, he picked up his dripping clothes and looked around for somewhere to put them. He decided to lay them across the stone lip of the fire pit. All the while, he could feel Toothless watching him like a hawk, but he did his best to ignore it. It always worked on Bunny, anyway. Jack grinned to himself.

He stepped up behind Hiccup and leaned over his shoulder, peering down at his work. "Woah."

Hiccup jumped and glanced up at him. "Oh…you done?" He moved to close one of the leather-bound books he'd had opened in front of him. "Do they fit alright? I wasn't sure – "

"Yeah. Hey," Jack interjected, still staring at all the intricate sketches spread across the table. "Did you draw these?"

"Uh…yeah," Hiccup looked away, tapping his fingers on the desk top. "It's sort of my hobby."

"Cool," Jack breathed, meaning it. The drawings were detailed and hyper-realistic, rendered in charcoal with notes scrawled out in the margins of each parchment in an alphabet he couldn't read. "Are all of these real?"

"Real dragons?" Hiccup asked. "Yeah, all the ones I've seen anyway. Fishlegs and I have been compiling them in the Book of Dragons, and we take notes on anything we've discovered about them."

"So you can train them?" Jack questioned, pushing a parchment out of the way so he could see the partially blocked drawing beneath. It showed a dragon rising up out of the ocean, blowing steam up into the air out of a blow hole on its wide head like some sort of huge, spiky whale.

"Only some of them." Hiccup sighed. "The ones we'd seen for centuries here on Berk were relatively docile, but there are more feral species the farther away you get. They don't seem to respond to the same techniques and a lot of them are bigger and meaner."

"And you search them out?" Jack asked.

"Yep." Hiccup shrugged.

"Sounds like you've got a death wish," Jack told him.

"No," Hiccup denied. "Just curious."

Jack grinned at him, noting the way Hiccup's entire posture seemed to have relaxed as they'd talked. There was a spark in his eyes now that reminded Jack of North when he was in the midst of a project. "You should meet a friend of mine. I have a feeling you and he would get along."

"You remember that?" Hiccup questioned, eyebrows knitting in confusion as he glanced back at him.

Jack frowned and stepped away. Crap. He was really bad at this.

Hiccup turned in his chair and watched him.

Jack sighed, pushing a hand through the drying spikes of his hair. He dropped his hands, opening and closing them, wishing he still had his staff to fiddle with. "Look…I actually remember more than I'd told your friends."

"How much?" Hiccup questioned slowly, brows knitting further.

"Everything." Jack winced. Then he turned around, swinging his arms back and forth. "Actually, probably more than that even."

"Um…" Hiccup uttered. "Oh-kaay."

Jack turned back around to face him, and found Hiccup standing now, watching him warily.

"Why did you lie to them?" Hiccup asked, fingers clenched over the back of his chair like he didn't quite know what to do with the stranger in his house.

"I didn't think they'd believe me," Jack admitted.

"Why?" Hiccup questioned, taking a half-step forward. "Who are you?"

"I…" Jack closed his mouth abruptly, thinking. "You really aren't gonna believe me."

"Try me," Hiccup muttered, but there was a small quirk to his lips, as if his natural curiosity was beating out his fear.

Jack sucked in a big breath. "Alright..um…" He swung his hands in front of him again, bumping his fists against each other. "I think I'm from the future…or a different universe, at least…I don't know."

"What?"

"You asked," Jack reminded him with a jab of his finger.

Hiccup frowned. "Alright…but why would you think so? I mean, couldn't you just be from somewhere really far away, or – ?"

"No." Jack shook his head. "For one thing, I remember Vikings," he paused, glancing at Hiccup. "From history books."

Hiccup's eyes widened, and Jack turned around, gesturing to Toothless, who warbled and cocked his head, one ear-like appendage rising a bit higher than the other. "And none of them had dragons," Jack continued. "Where I come from, dragons are fantasy creatures, like the Loch Ness monster or dinosaurs…or wait," he paused. "Dinosaurs were real." He waved his hand about. "Never mind." He turned back to Hiccup again. "The point is, this isn't my world."

"But…" Hiccup spluttered, pushing a hand through his hair and pacing a bit, his metal foot clanking on the wooden floorboards. "If that's true then, how did you get here? I mean, I've never heard of people traveling through space and time or different universes, unless they were gods, or – "He stilled and shot jack a look. "You're not a god, are you?"

"Um…" Jack uttered. Technically, he wasn't, but he wasn't human either. At least, he wasn't supposed to be.

"Odin's beard," Hiccup murmured. "Are you from Asgard?"

"Wha…Asgard?" Jack chuckled helplessly. "No, and I've never met Thor, either. Just FYI."

"Then…what are you?" Hiccup questioned, frowning.

"Well, right now?" Jack stated, spreading his arms out to either side of him. "I'm human, apparently. But I wasn't always."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup prodded.

"I'm a…frost spirit," Jack answered.

He could see Hiccup mouthing, 'frost spirit' soundlessly, obviously nonplussed. "Like Jokul Frosti?"

"You know him?" Jack's eyebrows rose.

"Yeah." Hiccup bounced on his feet and scratched the left side of his nose. "Old man winter. Nips your nose when it's cold out. A myth." He stilled. "Are you telling me you're him?"

Jack chuckled and shook his head. "Do I look old to you?" He leaned against the stone wall of the fire pit and grinned.

"Uh…" Hiccup colored inexplicably, and brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. "No."

"Yeah, I'm not him," Jack agreed. "Well, not exactly. Jokul Frosti's myth is older than mine. I'm the New World version, Jack Frost."

Hiccup eyed him for a moment. "You were right. I'm not sure I believe you."

Jack frowned and sighed, pushing himself away from the lip of the fire pit and standing again. "Look, I…didn't expect you to. There's no way I can prove it now that my powers are gone and I'm human again. That's why I didn't tell your friends."

Hiccup sighed and crossed an arm over his chest to rub one of his shoulders, looking thoughtful. "Okay, let's say I do believe you. How did you lose your powers, and how did you get here?"

"I dunno," Jack admitted, kicking at the edge of a fur rug with his bare foot. "One minute I was fighting Pitch and the next moment – "

"Pitch?" Hiccup cut in.

"Pitch Black," Jack clarified. "A spirit who feeds off of fear. The other Guardians and I…" he trailed off. "I probably should just tell you the entire story. You can decide whether or not you believe it."

Hiccup nodded weakly.

"You might want to sit down," Jack suggested, and he plopped down on the stone lip of the fire pit, taking his own advice.

Hiccup just started to lower back down into his chair when Jack's stomach growled again. They both stared down at his stomach and Jack chuckled. "Actually, could I get some of that fish first?"

Hiccup's lips twitched, and he got back up. "Sure."

"Thanks," Jack muttered, and Hiccup walked out the door.

He came back moments later, slightly damp, his tunic clinging to his chest, carrying a couple fish, fingers hooked in the gills. He handed one to Jack. "I keep them outside to stay fresh." Then he handed Jack a metal rod, and speared his own fish with another one. "Just cook it over the fire pit."

Jack speared his own and hung the fish over the coals, following Hiccup's example. They sat there in silence, slightly awkward due to the circumstances, until Hiccup deemed them ready to eat. Jack watched Hiccup bite into his, before he brought his own up to his mouth and tried it. Flavor burst out across his tongue from the fish oil, and he actually really liked it. His stomach seemed to agree, because it rumbled less violently when he swallowed the first bite.

"Good?" Hiccup questioned.

"Great," Jack replied, licking his lips, before diving in for more. "Thanks."

Hiccup smiled and sat back down in his chair, holding his partially eaten fish in one hand. He glanced at Jack, green gaze attentive. "Ready when you are."

Jack told him everything, from his awakening in freezing water beneath a layer of ice with only the knowledge that the Man in the Moon had somehow created him, to his 300 years of isolation and how that all changed when he became a Guardian. Then his discovery of how he'd died and who he used to be in his first life, who he had become in this one, the Guardian of fun. He told him about Pitch. How he had come back and fought alongside the Guardians again in a battle that had somehow sent Jack here, to Berk, and inexplicably human again. When he was finished, the fire had died down to glowing embers and Toothless was rumbling in his sleep. Their fish were only bones now, lying in a bucket beside the door.

Hiccup looked down at his hands, expression thoughtful. "So…you don't think Pitch could have done it?"

"What?" Jack questioned, eyebrows rising. A large part of him found it hard to believe Hiccup could be taking him seriously.

"He couldn't have turned you human?" Hiccup clarified. "I mean, you said he pushed his black power into your ice after you attacked him, and then he pierced you with it. Couldn't he have…I don't know, done something to you somehow?"

Jack stared at him. "I don't know. I've never heard of anyone having that sort of ability before. I don't even know if the Man in the Moon has the power to take a spirit's abilities and restore their mortality."

"Hm…" Hiccup hummed, gaze speculative as the gears turned in his head. "Did Pitch say anything after you were wounded? You said he likes to talk a lot. I just thought – "

"Yeah, actually." Jack remembered, sitting up. "He said, something about saying goodbye to being a Guardian."

Hiccup's eyes widened and Jack stared at him, something heavy dropping into his stomach at the implications.

"But that's impossible," Jack denied. "I didn't think he'd meant it literally, and anyway, how could he have that kind of power? The last time we fought him, we sent him back down into the ground where he belonged, totally weakened. And the children haven't stopped believing in us since. There's no reason he should have regained what he'd lost."

"Maybe…it's different." Hiccup shrugged. "Maybe his power is coming from somewhere else."

"Yeah, but where?" Jack asked. "I mean, it would have to be a lot of power to do something like that, to fight us the way he'd managed to, and then take away my power, too? It doesn't make any sense."

Hiccup stared at him, clearly at a loss. He sighed. "I'm wondering how you got here as well. Clearly, North's portal malfunctioned, but how? And is that somehow related to everything else? It's definitely something we have to think through…carefully."

Jack quirked a brow. "Wait…so you believe me, then?"

"I don't know." Hiccup shrugged, lips twitching up into a half-smile. "You are kind of weird. And this is a better explanation for that than anything else I can think up. Unless you're actually mentally unstable, like Fishlegs says."

"Gee, thanks," Jack replied, but he suspected his mock offended expression was ruined by the grin tugging at his lips.

Hiccup smiled, showing a sliver of the gaps between his teeth. Then he sat back in his chair, sobering. "There has to be a solution though, some way we can get you back where you belong."

Something clenched painfully in Jack's chest, but he pushed the sensation away, effectively ignoring it. Of course he had to leave. He wanted to. There was a novelty to being human again, but he honestly missed the perks of being a Guardian; riding the wind, and giving kids the joy of snow days, keeping their fears at bay. He loved it and he was good at it. He missed the kids and the other Guardians, too. He wondered if they'd been able to beat Pitch after he'd disappeared, if they were looking for him now.

"Maybe we won't have to do anything," Jack spoke, voicing his thoughts. "About getting me back to my world, at least. The other Guardians will probably find a way to get me back. Maybe all I have to do is wait."

"It's possible," Hiccup agreed. "But that doesn't mean we still can't try on our end. We might be able to figure out what happened, at least, and then maybe we'll have some clues about how to reverse it."

Jack stared at him, surprised that he'd go to such lengths for someone he barely knew, but he had a feeling that was just the type of guy Hiccup was; curious and self-sacrificing. Jack eyed Hiccup's metal foot, remembering the story of how he'd lost it. "Thanks, Hic."

Then he yawned, his eye lids suddenly heavy as the food he'd eaten settled in his stomach. Sleep was another thing he hadn't done since he'd first awoken as a spirit. It was a strange feeling, the fuzzy weight enveloping his mind, making his limbs feel like limp noodles. He tried to fight it for a moment, but he realized pretty quick that he was exhausted.

He heard Hiccup yawn as well, and caught the boy stretching in his chair, revealing a sliver of skin on his belly where his tunic rode up. Hiccup relaxed out of the stretch, oblivious. "Time to go to sleep, I think."

Jack nodded, and Hiccup got up, shuffling over to the bed, but then he stilled and glanced back over his shoulder at Jack.

"What?" Jack asked at the expression of discomfort on Hiccup's face.

"I…um…only have the one bed. So…" Hiccup began, swaying a bit as he switched his weight from one foot to the other.

"Oh," Jack uttered, suddenly wide awake. "Should I sleep on the floor?"

"Oh…uh…no," Hiccup replied, eyes darting back to the bed. "I mean, it's pretty big. As long as you don't mind sharing."

"Um…" Jack's brain kind of broke down, which he was very ashamed of, and he shook his head. This wasn't a big deal. This would be just like a slumber party kids always had back in Burgess. Jack had always wanted to go to a slumber party. He'd never been able to do anything like that when he was growing up. It wasn't a thing that Puritans did. But yeah, this was no big deal. Just two friends sleeping in the same bed. At least, he was pretty sure it was no big deal for Hiccup. Jack just had to remind himself of that. No big.

Hiccup was staring at him, frowning uncomfortably now, and Jack realized he actually hadn't replied yet.

"That's cool," Jack squeaked, then coughed, clearing his voice. Seriously, he'd already gone through puberty in his first life. His voice shouldn't be shooting up several octaves at random intervals anymore. "I mean, if it's cool with you."

Thank god his voice sounded normal that time.

"Yeah, it's fine," Hiccup muttered, but he didn't move and they ended up staring at each other for an awkward amount of time. Hiccup was the first to snap out of it, blinking.

"Right…so I'll just…uh…" He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his boot.

Jack took the hint and stepped around the foot of the bed to the other side, palms sweating. He sat and sunk down into the furs, running his hand through the soft hairs and staring at the opposite wall. He felt the bed dip behind him and he glanced over his shoulder just as Hiccup was starting to lie down, his metal foot gone with only thin air in its place. The stump of Hiccup's truncated calf was wrapped up in the remaining length of his pant leg.

Hiccup's eyes flickered to him for only a moment, before he shifted and got under the covers. Jack sighed, trying to slow his heart which suddenly felt like it was trying to beat its way out of his chest, and lay down as well, pulling the furs up to his chin. There was a lot of physical space between them, but it still felt like Hiccup was too close, making Jack nervous more than anything else. Jack stared up at the ceiling, trying to ignore his body's stupid reactions to everything.

He felt Hiccup shift and saw him turn onto his side, away from him.

"G'night, Jack," Hiccup mumbled, voice muffled into his pillow.

"G'night, Hiccup," Jack replied, turning onto his side as well so that they were back to back.

He honestly didn't think he'd be able to go to sleep after that, what with his heart beating like a jack hammer, but eventually, the exhaustion of his day won out and he fell into a deep slumber for the first time in 300 years.

….

AN: And again I wrote this chapter at work…this is a terrible thing. I am a horrible person. Don't look at me.

Next chapter will be from Hiccup's pov, I think. That should be interesting. Hopefully.

Also, feel free to visit and/or message me on Tumblr if you want. We can be friends and junk. ;)


	4. Chapter 4

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 4

"Oh…ow! What?" Hiccup exclaimed all in one sudden exhale, and he tried to bat at Toothless's face as the dragon licked his enthusiastically. He attempted to sit up, but Toothless's foot was on his chest. "Ah…it's too early for this. Toothless, okay, come on, let me get up."

The dragon warbled and retreated, settling back beside the bed and watching him with big, round-pupiled eyes.

Hiccup sat up, rubbing at his chest, and squinted in the indirect sunlight flooding the room from the various windows. It was too bright, stinging his dry, puffy eyes. He raised a hand to wipe at them, but then the mattress below him vibrated and he stilled. He turned his head and spotted a tuft of brown hair peeking out from beneath the furs on the other side of the bed, and it took a moment for his sleep-addled brain to process the visual before he could panic. Luckily, he remembered the night before. How he'd returned to Berk and gotten saddled with the strange new arrival, only to learn that he was even stranger than previously thought, if his story was to be believed.

He found it was hard not to believe it, though. Jack was definitely different. Definitely not like any of the other young men Hiccup had encountered here on Berk or on his travels to other lands. He wasn't huge or bulky, but he wasn't gawky either, and he smiled a lot with a gapless set of very white teeth. Something in Hiccup's stomach fluttered at the thought.

Then there was that too. That strange, unsettling feeling he got every time Jack grinned or moved in a certain way. Like when he leaned against things and casually crossed his arms over his chest, or when he ducked his head and peered up from beneath his brown bangs and raised eyebrows every time he wanted to punctuate a point. Hiccup's mouth would go dry and he'd temporarily lose his train of thought. It was all very odd and inexplicably nerve wracking. Hiccup wasn't sure he liked it, but it's not like he could avoid it. He was stuck with him now, and Jack didn't have anywhere else to go. Besides, he'd promised he'd help Jack get back where he belonged, and he wasn't going to break his word. Jack needed his help, and he was a long way from home.

Hiccup stared at the lump that was Jack under the furs and kept very still, but Jack didn't move at all after that. He must have been exhausted to be able to sleep so deeply. Especially after Toothless had pounced on Hiccup and he'd yelped in alarm. But he supposed getting thrown through a portal into another universe and transformed back into a human after living as an ice spirit for 300 years would be exhausting for anyone.

Toothless warbled and nudged him in the arm with his snout.

"Alright, buddy," Hiccup murmured just under his breath. He probably should let Jack sleep in as long as he wanted. Hiccup pulled the covers away and swung his legs around so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm up, I'm up."

His room looked the same as it had before he'd left, if not dustier. He didn't know why he'd expected it to look any different since it was a completely new addition he'd built with his dad off the back of the old house, and Stoick would have had no reason to enter it while Hiccup was gone.

Hiccup sighed. Honestly, after what had happened before he'd left, he was surprised his dad hadn't just disowned him and called it a day. Although, the awkward welcome Stoick had given him the night before wasn't exactly better. If anything, it made Hiccup feel even guiltier than he'd felt just after the initial righteous indignation had worn off about a mile out from Berk.

He hadn't expected Astrid to be the one most angry with him upon his return. In retrospect, that might have been pretty stupid of him. He'd hoped maybe she would understand why he'd needed to get away. After all, she knew all about the issues he was having with his dad. But she'd also been hinting for a while now that she wished he'd spend more time on Berk, helping to train the younger dragons and teach the next generation of children in the village how to train their own dragons, too. He'd done all of that, of course, and he did enjoy it, but there was something about going out into world and discovering new dragons and new lands with Toothless at his side that he missed the moment he touched ground on Berk again.

Everyone wanted him to settle, but it just wasn't him. The village made him feel restless and tied down, hungry for the next adventure. In the past couple of years, he'd made a habit of only staying long enough to develop some new equipment in Gobber's forge, before he and Toothless flew off again. In the back of his mind, he knew this was probably unfair to Astrid and his father, and maybe to his friends as well, but he couldn't just stay grounded when there was so much out there yet to be explored. He loved it and he felt the work was important, even if it hardly ever felt like work. He'd hoped that Astrid and the rest could understand that.

Apparently not.

Hiccup sighed again and sat forward, elbows resting on his knees and hands hanging limp in front of him.

Toothless rumbled and nudged his cheek with his nose.

"I really messed up, didn't I, bud?" Hiccup muttered.

Toothless graced him with a heavy-lidded stare.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Hiccup murmured. "Astrid is going to kill me."

Toothless reared his head back and huffed a growl, his irises narrowing to slits.

"Don't worry, bud. I didn't mean that literally," Hiccup reassured. "I think."

Toothless sent him a flat look, and Hiccup pushed his giant face away, chuckling.

He leaned forward to pull a boot on and only just managed to reattach his metal prosthetic when someone knocked on the door.

"Uh…coming!" Hiccup stumbled to his feet, pushing a hand through his sleep disheveled hair as he walked to the door. He pulled it open to find Fishlegs standing on the other side, and he relaxed. For a moment there, he'd been afraid it was his father. "Hey, Fishlegs. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I thought you and Toothless were going to enter the races," Fishlegs stated, smile slipping a bit. "I came to get you guys when you hadn't shown up."

"What races?" Hiccup questioned, bemused.

"The dragon races?" Fishlegs prodded. "The competition Astrid has been planning for months? You know, to show off our skills to the other Viking tribes we're allied with?"

"Ah…yeah…" Hiccup bounced once on the ball of his foot and prosthetic limb, and glanced away, chuckling feebly. "Those races."

"You'd forgotten, hadn't you?" Fishlegs questioned, and even he looked disappointed in him, his smile strained.

Hiccup thought about denying it, but he couldn't when Fishlegs was giving him that look with that face. He sighed and drooped a bit, leaning against the door frame. "Yeah."

"Oh…" Fishlegs murmured, scratching the side of his double chin with his stubby fingers. "I thought that's why you'd come back last night."

"No," Hiccup muttered, feeling worse. "No…that was just a coincidence, apparently."

"Oh…"

"Yeah."

They shared an awkward silence.

Then Fishlegs shuffled his feet and bit his lip. "Well, it's not too late. You can still enter, if you want. Today is just the practice round. All the spectators are arriving tonight."

"What time is it?" Hiccup asked, and he glanced up at the sky, trying to find the sun, but he couldn't see it near the horizon, which meant –

"It's after lunch," Fishlegs told him. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded and rubbed his left hand down over his face, closing his eyes. "Jack kept me up pretty late."

When he opened his eyes again, Fishlegs was staring at him with an odd expression, his lips bowed into a tight frown that still revealed the front two teeth of his overbite.

"What?" Hiccup questioned.

"Oh!" Fishleg's eyes went wide, darting from side to side, and he brought his hands together in front of his large belly, twiddling his fingers. "Nothing."

Hiccup stared at him, unconvinced. "Uh...are you sure about that?"

Fishlegs opened his mouth, but a loud shout of terror came out, and Hiccup realized pretty quickly that it wasn't from him. It was coming from back in the room. He jumped, startled, and turned around just in time to see Toothless leaning over the bed and growling in Jack's terrified and very awake face.

"Toothless?!" Hiccup rushed back into the room, leaving the door ajar before he wrapped his arms around Toothless's thick neck and pulled him off of Jack, again. "What's wrong with you, buddy? You've scared him."

Jack sat up in the bed, amber eyes wide, mouth opening and gasping in great gulps of air.

"Wha – ?" He looked disoriented, his eyes darting about the room, before they settled on Toothless again. "Oh my god."

"Are you alright?" Hiccup questioned, worried. Toothless warbled beside him and he manhandled him back even further until he was sitting back on his haunches and glaring at Jack from the foot of the bed. "I'm sorry, he's usually better than this."

"No problem," Jack stated, but he looked like it was very much a problem as he pushed a shaking hand through his messy hair and attempted to catch his breath. He swallowed. "I think I might've thrown up a bit in my mouth, though." He put up a hand, creating a space between his forefinger and thumb to illustrate. "Just a little bit."

Hiccup grimaced and glanced at Toothless who was now watching him with wide, questioning eyes, like he couldn't understand why Hiccup had stopped him. Hiccup shook his head. "I don't know what's gotten into him."

"Maybe it's a dominance thing," Fishlegs offered as he stepped into the room.

"Wha – ?" Jack squeaked, then coughed and tried again, his voice back to normal, if a bit rough. "Come again?"

"Dragons can be pretty territorial," Fishlegs added. "And you're in Hiccup's bed."

If possible, Jack's panic-flushed cheeks got even redder, and Hiccup chuckled in disbelief. "Fishlegs, I don't think that's what's going on here. Toothless isn't like that."

He glanced at Toothless.

Toothless raised a brow, his eyes heavy-lidded, as if to say, 'are you kidding me?'

Hiccup frowned at him, then glanced back at Fishlegs. "He's never done this before."

"You've never had anyone else in your bed before," Fishlegs pointed out helpfully, with a shrug and a smile.

"Um…" Jack uttered, staring at Fishlegs wide-eyed just as Hiccup shook his head, cheeks burning in embarrassment.

It's not like that was a fact he'd wanted spread around. In fact, it highlighted yet another point he and Astrid didn't quite see eye to eye on, and it wasn't something he necessarily wanted other people to know. Ever. Somehow Fishlegs knew though, which meant everyone else on Berk probably knew too and that was just the worst. Actually, Jack hearing about it was even worse than that, probably because he was practically a stranger. But the real point was, none of this had anything to do with that anyway, and there was no reason for Fishlegs to have brought it up.

"But this is…" Hiccup began, gesturing to the bed wordlessly for a moment. "That's hardly…I mean, it's not like..." He stopped and raised his left hand to his face, covering it for a moment. "Gobber told me to take him in. It's not like there's anything for Toothless to be jealous of…or whatever."

"Maybe Toothless just has to get used to it," Fishlegs stated serenely, pretty much ignoring all of Hiccup's garbled protest, which was probably for the best really.

"I'm just gonna…get up now," Jack offered, voice oddly flat, and he swung out of the bed, only to collapse onto the floor with a yelp the moment he tried to stand.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked, startled.

Jack groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position, leaning back on his palms and grimacing. "Oh, fine. I think one of my legs fell asleep. There are a lot of pins and needles right now. Not gonna lie, this is one thing about having blood circulation I really didn't miss."

"Oh-kay then…" Fishlegs muttered, looking worried.

Hiccup caught his eye. He wasn't sure Jack would want him to reveal everything about his true origins to Fishlegs. They hadn't even discussed that. So he just shrugged helplessly.

Jack's stomach growled loudly and Hiccup sighed, but he couldn't help the upward tug at the corner of his lips when he looked down at him.

"Do you want me to cook you some fish while you recover?" he offered dryly.

Jack huffed out a breath, but raised a hand and muttered. "That'd be great…but I want it extra crispy."

Hiccup shook his head, smiling, and thankfully, Toothless followed him as he passed Fishlegs on his way to the door. He turned just as he gripped the handle though and glanced back at Fishlegs with a raised brow. "Do you want any, Fishlegs?"

"Oh!" Fishlegs uttered, grinning excitedly. "Really? Yes, please!"

"Ok," Hiccup replied and made his way out the door and to a cellar he'd built at the back of his new wing of the house where he'd dumped the catch from their most recent trip. He pulled open the wooden doors set into the ground and peered down at the three large wicker baskets inside. He hadn't been lying to Fishlegs the night before. He and Toothless had caught a lot on their way home, more than either of them could eat before the frost receded and the fish went bad, now that summer was on its way.

He tossed five large fish to Toothless who gobbled them down with a satisfied rumble, and then he grabbed three more and brought them back into the house.

When he reentered, Jack was sitting on the lip of the fire pit, his knees drawn up and his feet flat against the stone side. Fishlegs had taken a seat in Hiccup's chair by the desk, and he was looking through all the drafts Hiccup had spread across it, giggling every time he held a parchment up to his face.

"I haven't finished those yet," Hiccup told him as he grabbed some metal pokers by the door and speared the fish with them. He handed one to Jack and the teen grinned, his face lighting up. Hiccup had to force himself to look away. He hung a fish over Fishleg's shoulder, dangling it in front of his face. "Here, Fishlegs."

Fishlegs grabbed the poker and turned around in the chair, grinning. "Thanks. When will you be finished with these, do you think?"

"The dragon sketches? They're almost done." Hiccup gestured to Toothless and he shot a blast of fire into the pit a little more forcefully than he usually did.

Jack yelped and jumped off of the lip, rubbing at his backside. "Woah!"

Hiccup winced. "Sorry, Jack."

Toothless had the gall to look pleased, and Jack edged away from him, frowning. "I think your dragon's out to get me. You probably shouldn't let it shoot fireballs when I'm around."

Hiccup sighed. "Noted." Then he sent Toothless what he hoped was an exasperated, concerned, and disapproving look. Toothless just grunted and turned away, curling up on the floor and pretending to be asleep. Hiccup frowned down at him. At least there was a fire crackling in the pit now. "The fire's ready, at any rate."

He sat at the edge and hung his fish over the flames.

Jack ambled over, and Fishlegs scooted forward in the chair, poking his skewer over the fire.

"I thought you were gonna cook my fish," Jack complained, standing with the metal rod resting across his shoulders, hands hanging over either side to hold it in place as the fish dangled off one end.

"That was when you were still recovering from your ailment," Hiccup pointed out wryly.

"Are you making fun of me?" Jack questioned, but his lips were twitching. "That hurts, Hic. Almost as much as the pins and needles in my leg."

"You'll get over it," Hiccup promised, shaking his head and smiling.

Jack plopped down beside him, one leg propped up on the edge and the other dangling off the side, his toes resting on the floor. He swung the rod forward in one smooth arc with the grace of someone who had done that before, many times.

"And I thought I was cold." Jack paused, looking thoughtful. "Was being the operative word, of course."

"No, now you're definitely…" Hiccup swallowed the rest of that sentence and coughed. "Not cold."

He groaned internally. What was that?

Jack raised a brow and frowned at him.

Thankfully, Fishlegs chose that opportune moment to cut in. "So, are you going to enter the race?"

"Uh…" Hiccup uttered nervously, stiffening.

"What race?" Jack questioned, turning his fish over the spit.

"A dragon riding race," Fishlegs replied.

"Hm," Jack murmured, then he grinned. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah, it is," Fishlegs agreed, nodding excitedly before he chomped into the head of his fish.

"I dunno," Hiccup muttered. "It could not be fun."

"What do you mean?" Fishlegs swallowed. "You've always liked dragon racing, and you and Toothless are the best."

"Thanks, Fishlegs, but…um…" Hiccup raised his fish into the air and looked up at the ceiling, trying to think of some way to explain why he'd rather not enter the race, without bringing up Astrid or his father. "Maybe we're too good, you know? The race could be pretty boring."

Fishlegs and Jack stared at him.

"Your humility is truly mind-blowing, Hic," Jack observed, and pulled his own extra crispy, slightly singed fish out of the fire.

Hiccup groaned and dropped his head. "I didn't mean it like that."

Fishlegs chewed on his fish loud enough for Hiccup to hear in the silence, then he swallowed. "Astrid really wants you to enter the race."

Hiccup raised his head and looked at him, knitting his brows in disbelief. "I'm not so sure that's right, Fishlegs. You saw how angry she was with me last night." He sighed. "No…it's probably better if I just avoid her for a while, stay out of her hair."

Fishleg's brows knit, and he picked at his fish skeleton for a moment, before he eyed him again. "I think that's why she was angry with you in the first place."

Hiccup stared down at his fish, its wide, dead eye staring back up at him judgmentally. "Yeah…you're right, but…" He let out a breath and slumped forward. "It's all kind of a mess. I'm not sure how to fix it."

Fishlegs shrugged and he got that sweet, understanding look in his eyes. "You can start by being there."

Hiccup winced and glanced at Jack. Jack seemed to be contemplating his burnt fish, twirling it slowly in front of his face. He stilled and locked eyes with Hiccup when he noticed his gaze, and shrugged, then nodded toward Fishlegs. "He's got a point, Hic." He looked back down at his fish, gaze distant. "No one wants to be ignored."

Hiccup put his half-eaten fish down and sighed. He couldn't argue with that.

It looked like he was going to be entering the dragon races.

He hoped Astrid had chosen to leave her axe at home today.

….

AN: Slightly shorter chapter because I had to split this one into two for plot reasons! And yet again this was written at work on a notepad with a pen and everything. I'm so old school. Like a reverse hipster. Doing stuff after it was cool.

Basically, in this fic, I'm expanding on Dean Deblois's line in his most recent interviews about Hiccup being AWOL from Berk at the beginning of the next movie and that posing a bit of a problem.

Hope you guys like where this is going, and thanks for the feedback!


	5. Chapter 5

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 5

They found themselves outside, Hiccup and Toothless fully geared for flight and Jack backing away from them both slowly, hands in front of him. "No, no, no…I think I'll walk."

"It'll be fiiine," Hiccup reassured, although he pressed his hand over Toothless's chest just in case, and sent the dragon a look with raised brows. "Toothless won't do anything when you're with me."

"Yeah, no, I'm not convinced." Jack shook his head, still backing away. "Because I've been with you both of the times he's attacked me."

"Jack," Hiccup sighed. "It'll take a really long time to walk there."

"I need the exercise," Jack deadpanned, stumbling a bit as he turned around on his heel. He clearly wasn't used to wearing the boots Hiccup had lent him.

"Jack…"

Jack stilled, then ducked his head. When he turned back to face him, he looked annoyed, his eyebrows drawn low over his amber eyes.

Hiccup took in a deep breath and let it out exasperatedly, knitting his brows.

"Fine." Jack relented, but raised a finger into the air. "But only this once, and if your dragon drops me out into the ocean, I'm blaming you."

Hiccup rolled his eyes, his lips twitching upward. "I'm not going to let him drop you into the ocean."

"Good." Jack nodded, stepping into Hiccup's space and looking him straight in the eye. "Because if he does, I'm pulling you in with me."

Hiccup nodded and accidentally brushed Jack's nose with his own. Jack's stern expression melted into something like shock, and he hastily stumbled backward, face coloring. Hiccup coughed into his fist, nonplussed by the skip in his heart beat.

"I'm gonna go get Meatlug," Fishlegs announced, and Hiccup jumped. He'd forgotten Fishlegs was there. "I'll see you both in the arena."

"Uh…yeah," Hiccup agreed, and he hastily hopped onto Toothless's back. "See you, Fishlegs!"

He watched Fishlegs walk away toward the front of the house where the village below was bathed in afternoon sunlight. He could see some men and women milling about alongside their dragons, children running about, chasing a pair of Terrible Terrors that had managed to escape their clutches. A zippleback was helping Bucket and Mulch hang streamers and flags with the Hairy Hooligan tribe's emblem between the houses and on top of the towers. Hiccup was forcibly reminded that Vikings from tribes on the neighboring islands would be arriving tonight in their ships to watch the dragon race tomorrow, and Astrid had planned all of it without him. Hiccup frowned, his guilt at having been absent intensifying. Fishlegs was right. He had to talk to her.

The clouds were high in the sky and wispy, only a slight chill to the air as a gentle breeze came up off the ocean. Hiccup breathed it in then glanced back at Jack who was scuffing the toe of his boot into the dirt with a thoughtful expression on his face.

Hiccup leaned to his left, Toothless shifting beneath him with a low rumble, and offered Jack his hand. "Okay, climb on."

Jack frowned, eyes flickering down to Toothless, but then his lips thinned and he nodded, taking Hiccup's hand. Toothless growled at that, and Jack stiffened, fingers tightening around Hiccup's for a moment.

"Toothless, what're you – ?" Hiccup frowned. "C'mon, bud. He's a friend."

Toothless turned his head and glared back at him, his pupils narrowing to slits.

Hiccup shook his head and knit his brows in confusion, begging him with his eyes. "Please, Toothless."

Toothless grumbled and faced forward again. Hiccup could imagine his narrowed-eyed, irritated expression clearly enough, but he felt Toothless let out a low rumbling breath and finally relax beneath him.

"Thanks, bud." He patted his neck with his free hand and smiled with relief. At least whatever problem Toothless had with Jack wasn't bad enough to make him completely unreasonable. He glanced back at Jack, the teen's slightly sweaty hand still clutched in his. "Okay."

"Okay." Jack frowned, but he let out a quick breath and nodded. "Just remember what I said earlier."

Hiccup shook his head, his lips twitching in helpless amusement, and tugged. "Just get on."

Jack climbed on with surprising grace, levering himself up with one foot on Toothless's side and swinging his other leg over to straddle Toothless on the saddle just behind Hiccup. Hiccup could feel Jack's hands stop to hover just over his shoulder armor, not quite touching. "Okay, let's go."

Hiccup glanced back at him. "You should probably hang on."

He could see Jack's adams-apple dip in his throat, but Jack followed his advice and lowered his hands down to rest on his shoulders. Hiccup could barely feel his grip through the leather armor, but he nodded and leaned forward a bit to talk to Toothless. "Okay, bud. Let's go to the arena."

Toothless hunkered down, his muscles coiling in preparation, and then they shot straight off of the ground.

Jack lost his grip almost immediately and cursed. Hiccup could feel him flailing, until he finally managed to snake his arms around Hiccup's torso and squeezed him tight in a death-grip that made it difficult to breathe.

"Ow," Hiccup wheezed.

"Oh my god," Jack panted against the nape of his neck, not loosening his grip at all.

Hiccup could only hear him because Jack's mouth was so close to his ear, the rushing wind drowning out everything else.

"Sorry!" Hiccup called back, only just managing to gather enough air in his lungs. He'd forgotten how fast Toothless had gotten. He'd grown used to the acceleration, but he realized it was probably horrifying for any unsuspecting passenger. With that thought, of course, Toothless decided to turn over in an upside-down loop. Hiccup sighed in resignation and Jack screamed bloody murder.

When they were right-side up again, Hiccup could feel the long line of Jack's trembling torso practically plastered along his back. The teen had also somehow managed to wrap his legs and arms around him in the interim. Hiccup glanced back at him, wincing. "Sorry about that, too!"

"Somehow, I doubt that!" Jack shouted back hoarsely as they dipped and dived through the air. "Does there happen to be a slower setting or is warp speed the only option?"

Hiccup leaned forward, Jack inevitably moving with him like a lanky octopus, and spoke to Toothless just loud enough for the dragon to hear over the rushing wind. "Hey, buddy, can we slow down?"

Toothless glanced back at him, his eyes narrowed and grumbling lowly so that Hiccup could feel his entire torso vibrate with it.

Hiccup sent him a helpless look and Toothless grunted, turning away, but he did eventually lower his speed until they were gliding calmly just over the water. Hiccup sat back, and Jack followed, of course, his forehead resting on Hiccup's shoulder as the teen gulped in deep breaths. Hiccup glanced back at him, worried. "You alright back there?"

"I never thought I'd say this," Jack muttered, his voice hoarse. "But I really empathize with Bunnymund right now. I should probably apologize to him for that sleigh incident."

"Uh…sleigh incident?" Hiccup repeated, confused.

"It's a long story." Jack released one hand from over Hiccup's chest and waved it around in front of him dismissively. Then he shook his head, his soft hair brushing against the back of Hiccup's neck and sending tingles down his spine. "Let's just say, he prefers to stay below ground and magical air travel is his least favorite mode of transportation."

Hiccup raised a brow, but didn't comment, and Jack sighed. He pulled away then, disentangling his arms and legs from around Hiccup's body. Hiccup missed the warmth along his back the moment it was gone, and he frowned at the thought, shaking his head.

Hiccup glanced back over his shoulder again and found Jack staring up at the clouds with a wistful expression, the cold wind whipping through his brown hair and chilling his cheeks a splotchy pink.

"I miss being a frost spirit," Jack sighed, his warm breath misting in the cold air. "I miss my staff and riding the wind, and…" He shook his head, and lowered his chin to catch Hiccup's eye. "Somehow I remembered being human being less…"

"Scary?" Hiccup offered.

Jack shrugged and rubbed at the nape of his neck. "Yeah…I guess."

"What was it like?" Hiccup asked, curiosity getting the better of him. "Being a spirit?"

Jack sat forward, and frowned, thinking. "It was lonely at first. It was a long time before anyone but the Guardians could even see me, and I didn't exactly get along with them." He smiled a bit. "They didn't approve of my pranks. I thought they just didn't know how to have fun." He smirked, but his expression sobered quickly. "But I guess, it was the only way I could get people to notice me, and I thought maybe one day, if I made something big enough – like a giant snow storm or an endless snow ball fight – they would."

"But then Jamie saw you," Hiccup supplied, uncertain if he'd remembered the boy's name correctly.

"Yeah." Jack smiled, amber eyes warming as he gazed at a spot just past Hiccup's shoulder. "He's a good kid."

"Did you…look any different?" Hiccup asked, curiosity piqued.

Jack's brows lowered a bit and he focused back on him. "Not incredibly." He shrugged. "I was just paler, you know? Not a lot of blood to warm my skin." His lips quirked. "I couldn't blush, which was nice." He pointed to his face. "And everything else was pale too, I guess. My eyes were blue and my hair was white."

Hiccup stared at him, squinting. "It's hard to picture."

Jack smiled and ducked his head, peering up at him from beneath his dark bangs. "I guess it would be. You've only seen me like this, but trust me, seeing myself reflected in that lake with brown hair and brown eyes was pretty shocking. Heck, seeing my pink toes was shocking."

"You could see your reflection when you were a spirit?" Hiccup questioned. "Seems strange when you were invisible to everyone else."

Jack frowned a bit. "Well…I could see my own body when I looked down at it. Why wouldn't I be able to see it reflected back at me?"

Hiccup shook his head and pushed a hand through his hair. "It's hard to wrap my head around. Almost unbelievable."

Jack eyed him for a moment, then he cocked his head. "But you do believe…don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," Hiccup replied without hesitation, because despite his doubts, he couldn't think of any better explanations for the way Jack behaved or why he was even here on Berk. It was either that or think Jack was crazy, and that wasn't really an option now that he'd gotten to know him. He realized he wanted to think the best of him, even though he barely knew him. Maybe that was dangerous, but he had a feeling in his gut that it wasn't; that when it really came down to it, Jack was worthy of his trust.

"Hm," Jack murmured, looking back out at the clouds they passed, his lips tugging up into a soft smile that lit up his face even more in the soft glow of the sunlight.

Toothless started to descend and Hiccup had to rip his gaze away to face forward. He felt Jack scoot forward and grip his shoulders again. An unexpected warmth bloomed in Hiccup's chest. His lips curled into a smile even when he spotted Astrid and the others in the arena. They were guiding a group of younger Vikings, all of whom Hiccup recognized from his years teaching at the dragon training academy.

"That's the arena?" Jack questioned. "It looks a little foreboding."

Hiccup looked down at it, perched as it was over jagged slate rock that jutted out over the cold gray ocean below. The entire structure, while supplemented with various colorful towers, was still caged in with metal chains spanning the top. He hadn't thought of it that way in a while, but Jack had a point. "We used to trap and kill dragons there."

"Ouch," Jack uttered, his hot breath ghosting over the back of Hiccup's ear. Hiccup shivered involuntarily, his stomach swooping like Toothless had just taken an unexpected dive beneath him. He tried to ignore it, but he was pretty sure his ears were red too. He frowned uncomfortably. He had no idea what was going on. Maybe he was coming down with something, but he didn't feel ill otherwise. Jack continued to speak, oblivious to his inner turmoil. "Well, it definitely has the look. What do you use it for now?"

Hiccup swallowed, his mouth inexplicably dry. He forced himself to focus on moving his prosthetic to switch the gears for Toothless's tail. "A dragon training academy."

Toothless swept down through the entrance to the arena and came to a stop just inside the shadow of the gateway. Everyone turned to look at them. Fishlegs waved, smiling over his big front teeth, and Ruffnut and Tuffnut grinned.

"Hey, Footloose!" Tuffnut called, leaning against Belch with his forearm resting casually across the dragon's shoulder.

"Look who's decided to show up," Snotlout sneered, dark brows lowering as he crossed his arms over his broad chest.

The younger teens around him perked up, though, all of them smiling excitedly.

"Hiccup!" A shorter, ganglier boy than Hiccup had ever been, named Fergus, jogged over to him and Toothless. "You're here! Are you gonna enter the race?"

Hiccup's gaze flickered over to Astrid, who was watching him from where she stood just in the shadow of the far wall, her arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. Her axe glinted at her side, and he swallowed.

"Yeah...you know me." He glanced back down at Fergus, swinging his fist across the front of his body and bobbing his head, trying to look enthusiastic and probably failing if Astrid's unimpressed expression was anything to go by. "I love racing."

"Cool!" Fergus seemed to have been convinced, at least.

"See?" A stocky girl with tangled red hair, named Freya, called out from behind Fergus, where she was scratching her Gronkle under the chin. "I told you that's why he came back. He'd never miss the race."

The other six young Vikings in the arena cheered.

"Eheh…" Hiccup chuckled guiltily, trying to ignore the sound of Jack's snickering behind him. "Yeah."

Hiccup's awkward smile dropped when he caught Astrid's eye again, her expression stony. Both Fishlegs and Snotlout couldn't seem to decide which one of them to focus on. They ended up turning their heads back and forth between them. Fishlegs looked hopeful, but Snotlout looked put-out, frowning. No surprises there.

Hiccup jumped when something nudged him in the back and he glanced over his shoulder at Jack in confusion. Jack raised his brows and nodded toward Astrid meaningfully, but something in his expression looked less than encouraging – somber somehow. Hiccup frowned, but Jack just broke his gaze and slipped off of Toothless, stumbling a bit when he landed on the stone floor of the arena.

Hiccup sighed and slid off of Toothless as well, patting the side of his friend's large head as he did so. Toothless warbled at him, looking up at him with giant, worried eyes. Hiccup tried to smile without grimacing, but he wasn't too sure how successful he was, because Toothless huffed at him and nudged him in the side with his nose. Hiccup pushed his fingers through his hair and looked back at Astrid again, steeling himself for what he knew he had to do.

He walked past everyone in the arena and approached her. She waited for him with a frown tugging at her lips, Stormfly at her side, the nadder twitching its large head and eyeing him with one golden eye. He stopped in front of Astrid and pasted on a shaky smile.

"Hey, Astrid," he greeted tentatively.

She stared at him and he shifted from one foot to his squeaky prosthetic in the silence, wondering if this had been a horrible idea.

But then she sighed, her shoulders sagging a bit. "We need to talk."

He bit his lip and she gazed back at him steadily, her expression tight. He let out a breath of his own. "Right. Yeah."

She ran her hand down Stormfly's flank and the dragon chirped, nuzzling her in the cheek with its nose, then Astrid stepped around him without a word.

He turned and followed her toward the gate, his hands twitching restlessly, opening and closing at his sides. He knew he had a lot of explaining to do. This already felt different from any argument they'd had before. Astrid only went quiet like this when something was really bothering her. So he already knew whatever she wanted to say couldn't be anything good.

Hopefully they'd get through this with the minimal amount of bruises to his person. That was usually how these things went, at any rate. His stomach clenched, preparing for the inevitable loss of dignity he'd most likely have to endure to get back into her good graces.

He passed Jack on the way out and caught his eye. Jack's lips twitched upward in encouragement, but his amber eyes looked solemn beneath knit brows, his shoulders uncharacteristically slumped as he leaned back against the wall.

"Stab him with your axe, Astrid!" Snotlout called out from behind them.

"Slice," Fishlegs corrected, just loud enough for Hiccup to hear.

"Whatever."

Hiccup ignored them and thankfully, Astrid did too, although he eyed her axe where it glinted at her waist with a modicum of trepidation.

He followed her through the shadowed tunnel of the double gate that led out of the arena, and over the narrow land bridge that lead to the forest on the other side. Astrid didn't slow or glance back at him until they broke past the tree line. She stopped where the canopy opened up, weak sun light glowing over a patch of green grass and rocks on the forest floor. Hiccup came to a stop a few feet behind her, preparing for the worst. Then she finally turned around to face him.

"Astrid, I – "

"I can't do this anymore, Hiccup."

Hiccup stopped talking, his mouth slightly open, and stared at her. When she looked back at him, there were tears in her eyes, glistening wetly but not enough to escape and fall down her cheeks. He stood there, something twisting in his gut, feeling like he'd been punched. He'd never seen her cry before. Not even when she'd been burned by a Terrible Terror's misfire and she'd had to cover the wound in ointment and dress it with a cloth that had to be changed every night for a period of weeks. "What?"

She wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and frowned, then shook her head, her blonde bangs coming loose and falling down over her left eye like it used to when they were younger. "I can't do this."

"But…Astrid, I…" his voice fell away, grasping for anything he could or should say. He came up blank, nothing sounding right in his head.

She watched him, waiting as he opened and closed his mouth like a landlocked cod. Her brows lowered and she looked away. "You can't even finish that sentence, can you?" Her voice was hoarser than usual. "You don't even know what you want."

"That's not – " he began, and pushed a hand through his hair, but she glanced back at him, raising her brows and he closed his eyes, wondering how this had become such a mess. She was wrong. He knew what he wanted, it just wasn't what she wanted, and he supposed that was the problem. It had been their problem for a while now.

She looked away again, blinking rapidly. "I know what I want. I want you here, with us." When she glanced back at him her eyes were glassy, her face rimmed in sunlight. "With me." She let out a short breathy laugh. It sounded bitter. "Not all the time, but...just for longer than the time you spend away."

"I know," Hiccup murmured, voice breaking a bit, because he did know. He'd known it all this time, but he couldn't...

She eyed him for a moment and then lowered herself to sit on a large rock just behind her. She crossed her arms and looked out at the trees again, frowning.

Hiccup just stood there, not sure whether he should go to her or stay where he was, but his feet felt rooted to the spot. Her body language was guarded, closed-off, and defeated. He didn't think she wanted him anywhere near her at the moment, and the worst was, he couldn't blame her.

"We're 19 years old, Hiccup," she stated, and glanced up at him, her blue eyes boring into his.

Hiccup frowned, and gazed down at the ground near his feet, staring at the pebbles imbedded in the mud. He could hear the same statement with a different pronoun echoed in his father's voice, heavy with implications like a ball and chain around his neck. He didn't have anything else to say. "I know."

"And we haven't even…" she trailed off, shook her head a bit, and stared out at the forest again. "I'd been waiting for you to ask or take the initiative. Anything. Odin, I'd dropped _hints_. You'd never done anything or you'd pretended you hadn't noticed, but I know you, Hiccup. You're smarter than that."

Hiccup flinched. She was right. They'd both been dancing around the same issue for a while now, but neither of them had dared to talk about it bluntly, until this moment. He barely understood the root of the problem himself, but somehow the thought of taking their relationship further, of inviting Astrid to his bed, just felt wrong. And it worried him that it did, because shouldn't he want that? He knew plenty of other Viking men from within and beyond the island of Berk who did. And why wouldn't they? She was beautiful, strong, and smart, everything anyone could want.

So why didn't he?

Yet again, he didn't fit the mold. Yet again, he was different from practically everyone else, but he couldn't even figure out why, and trying to answer that question made him anxious. There was something wrong with him, and unlike most problems in his life, he didn't know how to fix it. He'd hoped that maybe with time, the problem would go away. That he'd come back to Berk one day, see Astrid, and desire her the way other men clearly desired her – the way he'd thought he'd desired her when they were younger.

But that had never happened.

Flying Toothless and exploring the world was the only thing he seemed to be certain of now. He thought maybe he could do that until the rest fell into place. He loved designing and building new equipment, discovering new dragons and lands. Those things could be challenging, but he was never uncertain about them. Doing it had never made him feel lost the way talking to his father or Astrid did.

He stared down at her, unsteady, as if the ground had been swept out from under him. He didn't even know what to say to her, how he could possibly make things right. "Astrid…I...you..."

"It's okay, Hiccup," she sighed. "You don't need to say anything. I just needed to tell you that I couldn't wait any longer for something…" she looked up at him again. "Something we both know you'll never want to give."

Hiccup frowned, and swallowed, his stomach clenching at the pain he saw in her eyes, the pain he felt in his heart. He'd never thought it would come to this. They'd been together for four years now. Even if he couldn't want her the way he should, he still loved her. Maybe it was selfish, but he didn't want to let her go. He didn't want her to let him go. But he realized that wasn't fair to her, because she did want what he hadn't been able to give her, and every day that he ignored that was hurting her. She deserved someone who wanted her that way, and being with him as he was now could only make her unhappy.

He let out a breath, and it hitched audibly. Her eyes were wet again.

He shook his head, feeling horrible, but he'd already lost the will to fight for what they had, and maybe because of that more than anything else, he knew that she was right. "I'm sorry, Astrid."

She blinked, tears finally rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry, too."

He walked back to the arena alone, feeling hollow and numb. Toothless greeted him just outside the gates, warbling and nudging him in the side. He rested a hand over his head, but he couldn't force a smile for him. Toothless watched him, obviously piecing everything together in his mind, and the dragon nudged him in the side again, rumbling comfortingly. Hiccup lowered to a crouch and hugged him around the neck, listening to the steady beating of Toothless's heart in his large throat, his eyes stinging against the warm dark scales. Toothless wrapped a wing around him, and Hiccup squeezed him harder, burying his face into his neck.

When he finally let go, he stood back up, wiping at his eyes. He wasn't sure he was ready to face the others yet, but Toothless nudged him from behind, forcing him forward. He let Toothless manhandle him. The dragon clearly thought he knew what was best and Hiccup had lost the will to argue with anyone. Toothless kept him company as he walked back through the gated tunnel and into the arena. Not for the first time, Hiccup didn't know what he'd do without him. He was always there for him, always helping him even when he didn't think he deserved it, and he'd always tried to be there for Toothless in return.

He thought about jumping on Toothless's back right now and flying away, how easy that would be, but he pushed that out of his mind. He couldn't do that anymore. That hadn't helped anything. In fact, it had made everything worse.

He knew it was time he stopped waiting for things to change, and confronted his problems. Even if he didn't know how to fix them. Astrid deserved that at the very least.

He and Toothless reached the end of the tunnel and stopped. He glanced up and saw his friends instructing the younger Vikings on how to properly ride their dragons.

Even Jack was standing amongst a group of them now, smiling down at the teens as he rolled a long wooden staff over his shoulders and then flipped it into his other hand with a grace Hiccup didn't even know was possible. Jack's audience watched him with varying expressions of awe, their dragons twitching behind them, equally enthralled. Then he handed the staff off to Freya and she tried to do the same trick, but it ended up smacking the boy next to her, Gustav, in the nose and the other teens laughed. Jack said something to Gustav, who was scowling now, his nose a bright angry red from the hit, and the black-haired teen actually smiled, snorting in amusement. Jack tipped his head to one side and smirked, and Hiccup thought he saw a fair few of the girls blush. Freya, usually so stoic and tough, was actually giggling.

Hiccup watched them all for a moment, a dull ache in his chest. Then he stepped out into the light, Toothless at his side.

Jack turned his head, spotting him first, and his smile fell away. His dark brows knit, his brown hair haloed in golden light, and something in Hiccup's stomach fluttered. That same uneasy feeling overtook him, confusing him anew, but he took another step forward.

He couldn't run away anymore.

….

AN: Um...so...that happened.

Hope you are all well. Next chap will be from Jack's perspective again. Til then.


	6. Chapter 6

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 6

Jack would have asked Hiccup if he was okay, but he abstained for a variety of reasons. For one, that would be hard to do without outright shouting it into Hiccup's ear over the roar of the wind as they skirted the clouds upon Hiccup's majestic cat-dragon; and for another, it was pretty obvious to anyone with eyes that Hiccup was not, in fact, okay.

From the moment Hiccup had re-entered the arena, absent his girlfriend, it was obvious the Viking was miserable. Oh, he'd tried to put on a happy face, for sure, but if the expressions on the other Vikings' faces were anything to go by, nobody seemed to buy it. Even the younger Vikings were quietly sending each other concerned looks. The only person who seemed wholly unconcerned by the turn of events was Snotlout. He just looked smug, and like a jerk in general, but as far as Jack could tell, that was normal.

For his part, Hiccup seemed to sense that his act wasn't holding up, so he'd muttered something under his breath about trying out the course before tomorrow's races and he'd flown off. He'd left them all in the midst of an awkward silence, but Tuffnut had broken it by ordering the "kidlings" or "kid Vikings" to choose their paint wisely, and Fishlegs had joined in the fun by helping them with the designs for themselves and their dragons. It was a pretty obvious ploy to distract them all from the giant, proverbial elephant in the room, but the kidlings played along, most likely out of loyalty to Hiccup.

By the time Hiccup had come back, his hair windswept and suspiciously singed, Astrid hadn't returned to the arena. Fishlegs had approached Hiccup, but the bedraggled teen had just sent him a look beneath knitted brows and the larger boy had stopped in his tracks. Then Hiccup had glanced at Jack and informed him that he was going home.

Now here they were, riding Toothless over an ocean of cumulo-nimbus at an oddly sedate pace. Hiccup's posture was bent and tense, and Jack tried not to touch him too much after Hiccup had stiffened in his arms upon take off.

Jack stared at the back of Hiccup's dark-brown head, wracking his brain for something to say that might break the tension, but he constantly came up blank. Obviously, Hiccup had had an argument with his girlfriend and it hadn't ended well. Jack had no idea what he could possibly say to make that situation better. If there was anything he was completely unqualified for, it was giving out good relationship advice. He couldn't exactly speak from experience, and honestly, he wasn't sure it was his place to comment. Even though he felt uncommonly drawn to Hiccup, he barely knew him, and then there was the added complication of his own attraction. He didn't want that to get in the way if he tried to help him; he definitely didn't want to end up saying something insincere due to his feelings for him, something that he'd regret saying later.

So he stayed silent and as distant as he possibly could while he rode behind Hiccup on a ten-ton lizard with wings over an unfathomably deep body of ice cold water that stretched out for miles and miles in every direction. Okay, that was an exaggeration. There clearly was an island somewhere less than a mile to their left, but the feeling was the same. He might as well have been alone out here.

Finally, Toothless reared left and lowered altitude until they punched through the clouds to the underside, revealing the bay at the foot of the village. Jack noticed it was a lot more populated now, filled with ships of various sizes and makes with different designs sewn into the masts. These must have belonged to the other Viking tribes Fishlegs had mentioned that morning; the ones who were visiting to watch the races tomorrow.

As they flew closer, Jack could make out some Vikings standing on the dock. Hiccup's father was clearly visible, his auburn hair glinting in the mottled sunset light. Gobber stood beside him, chortling, as Hiccup's father clasped hands with an equally large woman who looked like she could easily bench-press a house.

Hiccup tugged on Toothless's ear with a murmured, "C'mon, Toothless," but instead of lowering to join his father on the dock like Jack had half-expected, they rose up the side of the cliff-face and popped up over the village proper. Toothless glided smoothly over the pointed roof-tops and made a soft landing right in the shadow of the house where they were hidden from the rest of the village.

Hiccup glanced back at Jack over his shoulder, and Jack took the hint, climbing off of Toothless's back with only minimal numbness in his legs and landing on the soft earth with slightly more grace than he'd managed that morning.

The moment Jack slipped through the door after Hiccup and Toothless, Hiccup fell onto his bed face-first and groaned into the furs. Jack bit his lip and dawdled uselessly at the threshold for a moment, before he finally broke down and kicked the door shut behind him. "So…you wanna…uh…talk about it?"

"Nothing to talk about," Hiccup muttered, still face-planted into his bedding.

"You know I'm not buying that, right?" Jack questioned and stepped toward him as close as he dared without rousing the dragon who was now settled on the bed beside Hiccup and snuffling his choppy hair with his giant nose. "It's pretty obvious something's wrong."

"What tipped you off?" Hiccup snarked, although it sounded tired and morose rather than biting.

"Oh, well…you know," Jack began. "That spectacular groan you just let loose into your bedding. Quite impressive, by the way."

"Thanks," Hiccup grunted.

"And let's not forget the oppressive silence," Jack added.

Hiccup was silent for a moment and then he mumbled, "It's not oppressive."

"Oh, trust me, it is," Jack disagreed. "And I should know. I'm the one who's spent centuries with only the moon to talk to."

Hiccup turned over onto his back and stared up at Jack incredulously.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Not much of a conversationalist."

Hiccup's lips twitched and then he snorted in helpless amusement. "Oh Gods…but I thought the moon talked to you."

"Talked is too strong a word," Jack stated. "Our conversations were really more metaphorical in nature."

Hiccup frowned in obvious confusion.

Jack shrugged and scuffed the floor with his boot. "I would talk, mostly by myself in the light of the moon, mind you, and every once and a while, Manny would do something to show that he cared, and by every once and a while, I mean every few centuries."

"That must have been…frustrating," Hiccup offered.

"Believe me, it was," Jack agreed. "I didn't really have anyone to talk to until the Guardians dragged me into their war with Pitch. Up until then, it was mostly just me."

His voice faded into silence and Hiccup's expression skirted toward morose again as the silence dragged on.

"Anyway," Jack continued, and he kicked at Hiccup's boot lightly with his own. "I'm a good listener. It's a skill I've honed over centuries of observing others…" He stiffened at the way that sounded and hastened to rectify it. "I mean, not in a creepy way. Just…no one noticed me and I was invisible, so…" he sighed. "I'm just going to shut up now."

Hiccup's lips curled up into a smile and Jack grinned tentatively back, his cheeks still flushed from the heat of his embarrassment.

Hiccup let out a breath and stared up at the ceiling, his expression pained once again. He placed a hand on Toothless's head and the dragon made a rumbling sound like a purr that vibrated so loudly Jack could feel it in the floorboards beneath his feet. "Astrid broke up with me."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise. He honestly hadn't expected that. A fight, sure, but a break up? That was a big deal. Especially for two people who had apparently been going steady for four years. "Man…Hic, I…I'm sorry."

Hiccup just shrugged, his adam's apple bobbing up and down in his throat. "It was my fault." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I wasn't treating her well or spending time with her. I shouldn't be surprised that she'd want to move on."

"But still…" Jack uttered lamely. "That's rough."

"Yeah…" Hiccup agreed.

"Do you think she'd ever take you back?" Jack asked, then immediately wished he hadn't. It seemed like kind of an insensitive thing to say. "Sorry, I didn't mean – "

"No…it's okay." Hiccup shook his head. "I don't think she would, and…honestly, I don't think she should."

"Oh…" Jack uttered, a bit confused, but unwilling to pry further. He felt like he'd just stick his foot in his mouth again.

"Have you ever been through a break up?" Hiccup questioned unexpectedly. "You know, in your…um…past life?"

"No," Jack shook his head and pushed his fingers through his hair. "I mean, I'd never been in a relationship, so…"

"Really?" Hiccup questioned and he dipped his head to look at him instead of the ceiling, genuine surprise painting his features.

Jack was a bit startled by the reaction. "Yeah, I mean, not that I can remember."

He was pretty certain he'd never been in a romantic relationship, given what memories he did have and what he now understood about himself, but he wasn't going to admit to Hiccup why that was, for obvious reasons.

"Oh," Hiccup muttered, but he looked genuinely confused. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. "I just thought with, you know…" He gestured to all of Jack with a wave of his hand and trailed off.

"Um…" Jack frowned and looked down at himself in confusion. "What?"

When he looked back up, Hiccup seemed paler, the freckles on his face more prominent than before, and his green eyes were wide as he stared up at him. It was like he was seeing him for the first time, or looking at a ghost.

"You okay?" Jack questioned, and when the seconds ticked by, Hiccup still frozen in place, he began to worry he'd broken him somehow.

Hiccup shook his head slowly, then he lowered his face into his hands. "No…I'm really extra sure that I'm not."

"Um…can I do anything, or…?" Jack asked.

But Hiccup shook his head again, his face still buried in his hands. "No, no, I think you've done enough, actually."

Jack frowned at him, and opened his mouth to question him further, but then something hit the door with a loud bang and they both jumped. Hiccup lowered his hands into his lap and Jack turned to face the door just as something banged against it again.

"We know you're in there!" Someone shouted from the other side. It sounded suspiciously like Tuffnut.

"Yeah, open up!" And that would be his sister.

Jack glanced back over his shoulder and caught Hiccup's eye. Hiccup grimaced, but he levered himself up and made his way to the door. Jack followed him and peered over his shoulder when Hiccup opened it.

"I just wanted you to know that this was not my idea," Fishlegs stated anxiously from his place behind Ruffnut and Tuffnut.

"What are you talking about?" Hiccup questioned.

"We have decided to stage…an INTERVENTION!" Tuffnut declared with a dramatic flourish of his fingers, right in Hiccup's face.

"What're you – ?" Hiccup began warily, but Ruffnut interrupted him.

"We're here to get you drunk."

"Um…thanks? But I don't think – " Hiccup protested, but Tuffnut had already grabbed him and was hauling him out the door.

"Hey, you shouldn't – " Jack moved to stop them, but Ruffnut grabbed him as well with a surprisingly strong grip. "Um…ow."

"You're getting drunk, too." She grinned and she looked him up and down in a way that raised several alarm bells.

"We're all getting drunk!" Tuffnut cheered into the night and a group of Vikings at the bottom of the hill actually answered with their own roar of approval. Clearly they were not the only ones drinking alcohol tonight.

"What's the occasion?" Jack questioned, stumbling a bit when Toothless nudged him to the side in order to follow his human. Oddly, the dragon seemed to be perfectly okay with other people manhandling Hiccup, just not him. Rude.

"That's something I'd like to know," Hiccup muttered from up ahead.

"Well, you see, that is to say…" Fishlegs stuttered.

"Ugh," Ruffnut uttered, and punched Fishlegs in the arm to shut him up. Fishlegs pouted and rubbed at his arm, but she ignored him, looking bored. "I heard from Astrid that she broke up with Hiccup, but instead of being happy about it like she should be, she's worried that he's gonna start moping."

"Yeah," Tuffnut agreed. "Lame, right?"

Hiccup scowled at him, but Tuffnut remained perfectly oblivious as he tugged him down the hill and into the torchlight of the village center.

"So, we decided, because we are geniuses," Tuffnut added. "That we need to fill him full of honeyed meade in the Great Hall of Meade before he even has a chance to question his life and all of his terrible choices."

"Wow, yeah. That's a solid plan," Jack muttered.

"Thank you, my fine fellow," Tuffnut replied, puffing up a bit and missing the sarcasm entirely. "I did think so myself."

Hiccup glanced back at Jack over his shoulder and they shared a look.

"Your friends are super special, Hic."

"Don't I know it," he agreed despairingly.

"We mean well, really," Fishlegs cut in anxiously. "You know, mostly. I mean, it's the thought that counts, right?"

"What thought?" Jack questioned sincerely, but then they were wading through a crowd of inebriated Vikings (these people really started early on the booze), and his voice was lost in the din.

That was, of course, until what looked to be at least a hundred Viking girls of various ages all descended upon their location, and their collective screams put the earlier din of the crowd to shame.

Jack took an instinctive step backward and Hiccup made an abortive motion like he would have done the same if Tuffnut hadn't been holding him firmly in place. Tuffnut smiled serenely when the girls swarmed around them, all of them screaming Hiccup's name.

"Ladies, ladies!" Tuffnut hollered just over their screams. "I would like to formally inform you that Hiccup is a free Viking now, totally girlfriendless, free from the binding bindings of -!"

"_Odin_, Tuffnut. Could you not!" Hiccup hissed at him as the girls went absolutely berserk.

Jack didn't even know what to think. It was crazy. He hadn't realized how much of a celebrity Hiccup was in the Viking world, but this definitely opened his eyes. Some of the girls were everything a Viking should be, with rippling muscles and weather hewn armor, but others were downright delicate looking with each hair perfectly coifed in long braids and make-up painted over their faces to complement their tribal tattoos. The way they all looked at Hiccup, like he'd hung the moon and the stars; well, Jack hoped he'd never looked at Hiccup like that.

"Oh, and I'm single too, ladies," Tuffnut leered and waggled his eyebrows, ignoring Hiccup's protestations entirely. Luckily, his sister punched him in the helmet from behind with a satisfying clang.

"Let me serve you some meade, Hiccup!" one of the girls shouted.

"No, let me do it!"

"No, me!"

"Sign my breastplate!"

"No, sign mine!"

A group of girls started shoving each other, and Jack stiffened in alarm when some seriously humongous axes appeared out of nowhere.

"No!" Hiccup shouted, his voice rising several octaves as he flung out his hands in the universal gesture for 'please stop', and the girls froze in place, their weapons still raised comically above each other's heads. "Um…" Hiccup shifted from foot to prosthetic once he had their undivided attention. "I mean, thanks, all of you, but I think I want to…uh…fly solo for a while."

Jack raised his brows at the pun, impressed. "Nice."

Hiccup glanced back at him, looking harassed, but Jack only grinned. He thought he saw Hiccup's ears turn red, before he turned back around to address the girls. "So yeah…um…sorry."

The girls all stared at him for a moment before they let out a collective groan of what sounded like genuine despair, and they slowly dispersed, re-sheathing their various weapons. One of them lingered until the majority had left, however, and she sidled up to Hiccup, her hips swaying in a way that made Jack's skin itch. There was something exotic and beautiful about her, her dark hair pulled into a thick braid over one shoulder and her light eyes lined heavily with coal. She ran a finger down Hiccup's chest and smiled. "Maybe I can interest you in a duet."

Toothless rumbled lowly in his giant chest, but Jack took action before the dragon could.

"He said he wasn't interested," Jack bit out and, thankfully, Ruffnut let him go so he could step up to Hiccup's side. Something about this girl rubbed him in entirely the wrong way, and that was a seriously horrible pick-up line.

She raised a dark, well-shaped brow and eyed him instead, taking him in from head to toe. She tilted her head contemplatively, and a slow smile curved her lips. "And who are you?"

"Uh…Jack?" Jack questioned stupidly when he noticed she was now gracing him with the same predatory look she'd initially trained on Hiccup.

"Hm," she hummed appreciatively and sidled over to him. "Would you be interested in a – ?"

"He's not interested, either," Hiccup interjected and Jack eyed him in slight surprise. Hiccup didn't even look at him. His gaze was focused squarely upon the girl, his lips pulled down into a tight frown.

She scowled at him, her mildly pleasing visage turning ugly with the expression. "Fine. I'd thought you would have better taste, but clearly, I was mistaken."

Then she stomped off.

"Wait, my beauteous maiden! I have better taste!" Tuffnut called after her. He gave chase and disappeared behind a group of burly Viking men, leaving Hiccup alone with no one to tug him around.

"Ugh," Ruffnut uttered again. "Now I really need a drink. Later, losers."

And she stalked off as well.

"Wait…what?" Jack questioned.

Fishlegs just shook his head, then his eyes flickered in the direction Ruffnut had gone. "Sorry, guys. I think I'm gonna head off, too…I've gotta…"

"Yeah." Hiccup nodded to him. "Go make sure Ruff doesn't drink those Vikings from the Berserker tribe under the table again, Fish. We don't need an excuse for Dagur to start another intertribal incident."

Fishlegs nodded gratefully and disappeared into the crowd as well.

Jack watched him go and then it was just him, Hiccup, and Toothless looming beside them, like a giant, fire-breathing guard dog. Jack caught Hiccup's eye. "So…that was weird."

"Yeah…" Hiccup sighed, but it was the long-suffering sigh of someone who thought it was all, in actual fact, very normal.

"Sorry about…" Jack trailed off, feeling embarrassed. He raised his right hand and ran his fingers through his hair. He'd really lost control back there.

He wondered if Hiccup could even discern what he'd meant by that statement, but Hiccup was already shaking his head. "No, I'm sorry for…I shouldn't have assumed that…you know," Hiccup replied just as incoherently, looking equally uncomfortable.

"What? Are you kidding?" Jack questioned. "You saved me back there. That girl was like, a hawk and I was a sitting duck…or some sort of animal that hawks eat."

Hiccup snorted, and Jack's lips twitched, embarrassed.

"Shut up," he told him. "That analogy had totally worked in my head."

Hiccup grinned, revealing the gap between his two front teeth. "Is that supposed to make it better, or...?"

Jack glared at him. "Ha ha. I bet you think you're so funny."

"I've been told I have my moments." Hiccup shrugged with an air of mock arrogance.

Jack grinned. He liked that he could tell it was an act. Part of Hiccup's charm was that, despite all he had accomplished, he was still relatively down-to-earth. Even when faced with his sea of adoring fans.

"So…" Jack muttered, scuffing the cobblestoned ground with the toe of his boot. "Does that happen to you often, or…?"

"Oh…the girls?" Hiccup questioned.

Jack nodded.

"Uh…not especially, no," Hiccup denied. "It only really happens when a lot of the tribes get together."

"Fun," Jack muttered.

"Yeah, it really isn't," Hiccup stated dryly, gaze flicking around to take in the crowd milling about around them. "Astrid used to hate it. Maybe even more than I do."

"I can imagine," Jack muttered, and yeah, he really could.

Hiccup smiled, but then he shrugged and it faded. "Well, at least now she won't have to worry about it anymore."

Jack stared at him for a moment, biting his lip. Hiccup looked vaguely pained again, his gaze distant. Jack sighed. "I've never had alcohol before."

"Really?" Hiccup questioned and he perked up a bit, his brows rising.

"Yeah," Jack replied, looking out at the crowd as well, mostly to cover his embarrassment. "Puritans weren't really into the imbibement of drink. The people in my town called it Satan's well-water. And then, when I was a spirit, there wasn't much of a point."

"Well, Vikings seem to be all about 'the imbibement of drink'," Hiccup observed and just at that moment, as if to punctuate his point, a burly man jumped up onto the lip of the well in the middle of the courtyard and crudely swiveled his hips about as a group of onlookers cheered, raising their drinking horns – or what Jack could only assume were hollowed-out yak horns filled with meade.

Jack glanced back at Hiccup and Hiccup seemed to sense his gaze, turning to catch his eye. Jack grinned, feeling a little adventurous now. After all, when in Rome… "Would you like to assist me in getting drunk for the first time?"

Hiccup smiled, releasing a huff of laughter through his nose. "Sure. I could use a drink anyway."

"That's the spirit!" Jack commended.

"Actually, technically, _that's_ the spirit," Hiccup corrected, pointing at a flagon of meade a woman was carrying as she passed.

"Wow, yeah, maybe I'll find that funny when I'm less sober," Jack deadpanned.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and snagged a yak horn from a passerby who was obviously too drunk to notice the loss, and he handed it to Jack. "Drink up."

I love you, Jack almost uttered, but he swallowed the confession down with a healthy dose of horror at his own mental slip-up. He raised the horn to his lips to keep from uttering anything else that might tumble from his unoccupied mouth, and he let the honeyed meade burn a path down his throat, completely unaware that this was probably the worst thing he could do if he wanted to keep his secrets to himself.

Jack coughed and Hiccup laughed. For now, that was all that seemed to matter.

Warmth blossomed in Jack's chest, and he wasn't certain it had anything to do with the meade. He was pretty sure he was already drunk on living.

….

AN: First off, sorry for the long wait. I'm working full-time and writing an original novel, so I had to wait for a long holiday and some inspiration to poop this chapter out.

Secondly, I imagine there's no set drinking age for Vikings. And really, most of these characters are at least 18, which is the legal drinking age or above it in a lot of countries outside of the US. So yeah, in my head-canon, a lot of the Viking teens have experienced getting drunk or at least slightly tipsy, including Hiccup. Jack, not so much, given his background. His tolerance is probably terrible as a result as well…so the next chapter should be fun! Or highly embarrassing for him. Probably both.

Until next time.


	7. Chapter 7

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 7

"And then…and then…he said." Hiccup giggled and he grabbed Jack's wrist, pulling his hand to his chest so that his palm rested flat over his leather breast plate. He deepened his voice. "Do you feel it too, Hiccup?"

"Pffft," Jack snorted. The entire Mead Hall swam pleasantly in his blurry vision. The considerable amount of mead he'd consumed had already been warming him from the inside out for some time now, blanketing his mind in a comforting fog that pushed everything else to the background. He barely even noticed the crowd of Vikings milling around them, packed into the Hall like heavily armored sardines and lost in their own conversations. He and Hiccup sat at one of the tables, limbs heavy and rendered close to useless. Jack blinked, bringing Hiccup's face into focus. "And what…what didjoo say?"

Hiccup giggled, his cheeks flushed so deeply his freckles were almost indiscernible. "I said..Acsh…Actually, Dagur, I jush…just feel kinda awkward."

Jack laughed and Hiccup joined him, tears of mirth gathering at the corners of his eyes.

"That ishn't…isn't new!" Jack teased breathlessly and he shoved Hiccup's chest.

Hiccup swayed backward in his seat, only to bob forward again, and he pouted. "I'm not awkward." He raised a finger and waggled it around in Jack's face. Jack followed it, going cross eyed. "Yer awkward!"

Jack snorted again, shaking his head. Hiccup was sooo awkward. It was…it was adorable.

"Go home, Footless! Yer drunk!" Tuffnut accused and he swayed into them on legs that bent like limp noodles in slow-motion. Luckily, the husky girl who accompanied him pulled him back by the hair with a high-pitched giggle of delight before he could fall face-first into Hiccup's lap.

Hiccup squinted at the other Viking, his nose scrunched up. Jack wanted to nip it.

"Yer drunk,Tuff!" Hiccup finally accused, like this was a revelation. "Youuuu should go home!"

Jack huffed out a laugh and rocked forward in his seat. Everything that came out of Hiccup's mouth was hilarious!

"Oh yeah?" Tuffnut questioned, draping his arms across his female companion's shoulders. "Well…" he screwed up his face, like he was thinking hard. "Well, you should get a room!"

And then he turned his head and proceeded to make out with the girl he was hanging off of.

Hiccup frowned in mild disgust and swung his head back round to look at Jack as if to say, 'really?' purely with his eyebrows, but he couldn't seem to keep his head upright so he ended up resting it on his other shoulder and looking up at Jack sideways.

Jack snorted and tugged at the dark bangs hanging over Hiccup's visible ear, trying to pull his head back up. "Yer head's lopsided, Hic."

"Yer the one who's lopsh…lopsided!" Hiccup accused and he giggled, trying to bat at Jack's hand but missing completely. Then he gave up and his brows lowered into an expression of pained sincerity. "It's too heavy."

Jack laughed, and his face flushed with heat. He was really hot all of a sudden. He could feel sweat break out over his skin beneath his clothes.

"I'm really hot!" he declared.

Hiccup nodded, his eyes glazed and his head still resting sideways on his shoulder. He grinned up at him dopily, one eye lid at half-mast. "Yep-puh."

"We should…" Jack giggled for no discernible reason. "We should go outside!"

Seriously, best idea EVER.

"Hm," Hiccup hummed with a sappy smile. Clearly, he agreed.

Jack swung around on the bench and tried to get up, but the moment he put weight on his feet, his legs fell out from under him. He giggled. "Whoops!" He turned onto his side to eye Hiccup's ankles from his new cozy spot on the floor, and he poked at a random lever in Hiccup's prosthetic limb, pushing the squeaky piece this way and that.

"Enjoying yershelf?" Hiccup questioned from above.

Jack grinned up at Hiccup's face when the Viking swung his head round to peer down at him, his dark, choppy hair rimmed in the warm glow of the torchlight. "You should join me, Hic. It'sh amaaazing down here."

Hiccup giggled and did just that, tumbling right off of the bench and landing beside him with a soft, "Ow."

Various large-booted Vikings side-stepped around them. None of them appeared particularly bothered that there were two relatively tall teenagers sprawled out on the floor at their feet.

Jack grinned. He loved the imbibement of drink!

He rolled onto his side and found Hiccup already looking back at him, a dopey smile tugging at his lips. Jack smiled back. "Hi."

"Hi," Hiccup replied. He raised a finger and swiveled it around in the air for a moment. Jack followed it, going cross eyed, until Hiccup brought it down and poked him in the nose. "Boop."

Jack snorted with laughter, but it was muffled by a giant lizard's nose coming down and snuffling at his face, and he bat at it. The dragon rumbled deep in his throat, then turned his attentions to Hiccup instead, releasing his giant tongue and licking Hiccup's entire face from chin to forehead. When he was done, Hiccup sported a face covered in glistening slobber and an impressive cowlick arching off the side of his head.

"Argh…" Hiccup groaned, his face scrunched in disgust. "Toothless!"

Jack laughed, and even Hiccup was giggling again, batting the dragon's humongous head away. Toothless opened his mouth and mimed a chortle of amusement, before he finally retreated, apparently satisfied.

Jack licked the salty sweat collecting on his upper lip, his tongue feeling pleasantly heavy and full in his mouth, and he suddenly remembered. "We should go outside!"

Hiccup was still busy wiping at the goop on his face with one of his sleeves, but Jack tugged at his arm.

"C'mon, Hic." He grinned, shaking him.

Hiccup laughed and bat at Jack's face, inadvertently wiping some slime onto his cheek in the process. "Okay, okay."

Jack kept shaking him, making a game of it, until Hiccup pushed himself up onto his hands and knees, and then managed to climb to his feet. Hiccup swayed dangerously up in the stratosphere for a moment, but then he seemed to find his equilibrium and he smiled triumphantly. "I'm up!"

Jack tried to do the same, but between one blink and the next, he was back on the ground with no idea how he'd gotten there. Hiccup giggled. Jack grinned and made grabby hands. "Up!"

Hiccup huffed out a laugh and obligingly took both of his hands in his, tugging at him with a grunt of supreme effort until he toppled backwards onto the bench behind him and took Jack with him. Jack blinked and peered up at him from his new vantage point between Hiccup's legs, Jack's knobby knees digging into the hard floor and his arms draped over Hiccup's lap.

"Thanks, Hic," he murmured sincerely.

Hiccup beamed at him, looking quite proud of himself.

"Now, we jusht have to get to that door," Jack told him, and he swung a hand out to point at said door in order to make sure his intentions were perfectly clear to his more able-bodied companion.

Hiccup bobbed his head with all the gravitas of a highly inebriated person, and knit his brows in deep thought until Toothless head-butted him in the side with a soft growl and Hiccup's glassy eyed gaze lit up.

"Toothless! Hey…hey, Toothless! Hey, bud!" He babbled and pet the dragon's head. "Couldjoo help ush get to that door?"

Jack swung his head around just in time to catch the dragon's flat look of disdain, but Hiccup persisted, his lips pursing into a pout as he tugged at the dragon's ear-appendage-thing. "Aw…please? Big, giant baby-boo?"

Jack giggled and the dragon grumbled, clearly unimpressed, but the nick-name seemed to have done the trick, because Toothless let out a gusty breath and lowered his head between them, his heavy-lidded gaze telling them they were both idiots but he took pity on them all the same.

He was a good cat-dragon, Jack mused. Jack made to pet him, but he missed his face and ended up poking him in his giant eye. Toothless flinched and flashed his teeth at him, but by that point, Jack had already swung an arm up over his neck and was busy levering himself up.

Hiccup did the same on the other side until they were both half-draped over Toothless's giant neck, their feet once again underneath them.

"Okay, bud," Hiccup murmured into the dragon's gleaming scales, his mouth smashed against his neck. He flung his free hand out and pointed toward the door. "Onward!"

Jack giggled and nearly slipped right back off when the dragon moved. He scrambled for purchase at the last moment, flailing until he managed to grasp Hiccup's wrist and hold on. Hiccup snorted and wrapped his fingers around Jack's other wrist, hanging on to him too. They stumbled through the hall like that, Toothless grumbling with every step until they reached the large double doors at the front of the hall and the dragon nudged one of them open with his head.

Hiccup cheered, "Yeah!" when they were out and Jack laughed. The crisp night air felt amazing on his flushed face, the sweat already cooling beneath his tunic. Going outside had been an awesome idea!

The party was still going strong at the foot of the steps, the village center lit warmly in torchlight, laughter and revelry permeating the air. And the sky…the sky was…

"The sky's awake," Hiccup slurred, eyes squinted in happy crescents as he stared out at the horizon.

"Woah," Jack uttered muzzily. The sky was on fire, like North's Aurora Borealis at the pole, but blurrier.

Toothless moved again and Hiccup and Jack tumbled after him down the stone steps. Jack giggled and eventually gave up trying to use his legs entirely. He concentrated all of his effort into holding on to Hiccup's wrist and Toothless's neck, and he let his feet fall where they wanted. Every step was like an adventure. Where would he land next? He didn't know, but it was exciting to find out. Mostly, his knees knocked into the steps instead, but every once and a while he managed to land on the edge of a step with the sole of his boot like a normal, fully mobile person. That was fun.

When they reached the bottom, Toothless leaned forward and unceremoniously dropped them both into a heap on the ground. A couple of Viking men with biceps as wide as tree trunks cheered at their arrival and pulled them up to their feet. Someone held Jack up by the scruff of his tunic and shoved another yak horn into his hands. He caught Hiccup's eye and grinned dopily. Hiccup smiled and raised his own horn to him, before he tipped his head back and downed the contents all in one go. Jack joined him, letting the mead burn a path down his throat and warm his cockles.

Heh. Cockles. Jack snorted with amusement. The Viking men roared in approval and downed their own drinks in solidarity.

Everything went a little fuzzy after that.

The next thing Jack knew, he was pressed up against a wall, giggling breathlessly. He saw the village center once again splayed out before him at the bottom of a hill, and the length of Hiccup's body was draped over his, burning a line of heat all along his front.

He shivered. Something cold was sliding up the column of his throat to his ear and Jack realized it was the tip of Hiccup's nose, his hot breath fanning out over his skin with every exhale. He clenched his fingers where they gripped the small of Hiccup's back.

Hiccup giggled, his breath puffing out over the sensitive skin just behind Jack's ear, making it tingle. "You smell like snow, and...and pine cones."

"Okay..." Jack huffed out a laugh, breathless and amused. He wasn't really sure what he was even talking about or agreeing to anymore, but he knew he didn't want Hiccup to stop. So he tipped his head back to allow Hiccup better access to his throat. Hiccup obliged him by running the tip of his nose along the underside of his jaw and breathing in deeply.

"Wha...whadoo I smell like?" Hiccup asked.

Jack could hear the smile in his voice and he grinned, rolling his head forward, it felt heavy on his neck, but he bumped his nose against Hiccup's ear and ran the tip of it along the shell. Hiccup stiffened and Jack breathed in deep, smiling. "Like…like dragon spit."

That drew out a snort from Hiccup, but then Jack discovered Hiccup's earlobe with his teeth, nipping it, and Hiccup went still again, his breath catching.

Jack chuckled, his mind pleasantly muddled like his thoughts were getting filtered through molasses, and he wrapped his arms around Hiccup's back, holding him close. He smiled, breathing in the salty ocean-spray smell of Hiccup's hair and the musky scent of dried sweat on his skin. He could do this forever. He would love to stay just like this. He nuzzled Hiccup's earlobe with his nose affectionately, then ran his tongue along the curve of his ear.

"You tashte...you taste like dragon spit, too," he joked, rolling the salt-spice flavor around on his tongue.

Hiccup made a low sound in the back of his throat that Jack could feel vibrate against his chest. Then Hiccup shifted and dug his long fingers into his hips. What little focus Jack retained in his inebriated state transferred immediately downward. It felt like Hiccup's fingertips were radiating heat straight through his clothing and onto his skin like a brand. It didn't take long for all that heat to gather low in his belly, until he was trembling, too; unsteady.

"Jack…" Hiccup whispered, his voice rough and muffled against his temple.

Jack turned his head toward his voice, but Hiccup pulled away. He stiffened and grunted in protest at the loss, but Hiccup only retreated far enough to look at him. He was...Jack's swallowed, his mouth dry. Hiccup's pupils were blown wide in the dark, his cheeks flushed from the mead, and Jack could see the aurora borealis dancing in his green eyes.

Jack stared blearily and Hiccup's gaze flickered down to his mouth just long enough for Jack to notice. Hiccup swayed closer then, his eyelids falling shut, hiding the sky. Jack swallowed, but he didn't move, the wall cold and hard at his back. He could make out each individual eyelash that fanned out over Hiccup's freckled cheek bones, and his gaze caught on the sheen of Hiccup's lower lip when the tip of his pink tongue darted out to wet it.

He wet his own lower lip in reflex when Hiccup's warm breath fanned out over it, then Hiccup closed the gap between them and pressed his lips to Jack's in the dark.

The kiss was barely a whisper of pressure, dry and chaste, until Hiccup released a soft sound, a warm sigh against his mouth, and tilted his head at a different angle. Jack's brain stuttered to a halt, because their mouths fit together. Hiccup's lips were so soft, warm and chapped and tentative. He didn't know how to respond, his mind and limbs slow and heavy from the mead, but then Hiccup's tongue slid hot and wet along seam of his lips and he had to suck in a breath, because oh, that was...

Jack let out a harsh breath through his nose, a thrill racing down his spine and pooling in his gut, urging him to do something, anything to pursue that feeling. He pressed forward and licked past Hiccup's parted lips into the welcoming heat of his mouth where he tasted the honeyed mead that still lingered on his tongue and traced the sharp contours of his teeth. The kiss was messy, his technique unskilled and clumsy at best, but Hiccup didn't seem to mind. He moved with him, sliding his tongue along his and nipping at his lower lip just as fervently.

He could hear small moans and hitched breaths rising from the back of Hiccup's throat, or maybe they were coming from Jack. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was drowning, his breath catching in his throat and burning in his lungs, but he didn't want to stop. His entire world narrowed down to the feel of Hiccup's lips and tongue and body pressing into him; the scrape of his calloused fingers sliding along his jaw and burying in his hair; his own fingers kneading desperately at the cool leather over Hiccup's back.

When he opened his eyes next, he was tumbling onto Hiccup's bed, chuckling breathlessly. Hiccup gazed up at him from where he lay sprawled out on the furs beneath him, his freckled face flushed and his lips red and kiss-swollen, tugged up on one side in a soft smile. Jack rolled forward on his trembling limbs and kissed him again. He swiped his tongue along the seam of his lips and licked at the corners of his mouth, then he mapped the freckles dotting Hiccup's tanned skin with his tongue, before he slid down to mouth at the stubble along his jaw.

Hiccup writhed and trembled with every touch, his breath coming out in ragged pants as he gripped Jack's back and buried his long fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck. Jack struggled to stay propped above him on his drunken limbs, his arms shaking where they bracketed him in, but eventually, he lost that battle and had to roll onto his side. He fumbled with Hiccup's armor, his fingers tripping over the straps of his belts, but he was unable to do anything more than tug at them fruitlessly.

Luckily, Hiccup caught on and pushed his hand away, undoing the belts for him one by one with his own shaky fingers, until the leather armor was loose enough to peel away and discard. He threw it over the side of the bed and the metal belt buckles clattered over the wooden floor boards.

Jack grinned and took the opportunity to run his fingers beneath the green cloth of Hiccup's exposed tunic for the first time, skirting over the damp, heated skin. Hiccup huffed out a laugh, his abdominal muscles twitching beneath Jack's fingers, but he didn't stop him. Instead, Hiccup gripped his own tunic just beneath his ribs and pulled it up over his head, flinging it away to join his armor on the floor.

Jack sat up with a mind to tug his own off as well, feeling hot, but it got stuck around his head. He flailed a bit with his heavy limbs, but he quickly realized that was useless and he let out a strangled grunt of frustration. He heard Hiccup's muffled snort through his cloth prison and scowled, but Hiccup apparently took pity on him and pulled it off the rest of the way, flinging it in the same direction as his own tunic.

Hiccup fell back against the furs, smiling crookedly, and Jack pushed his own ruffled hair out of his face. His sweat instantly cooled on his exposed skin in the chill of the room, which was a relief, but when he finally looked down and eyed the beads of sweat that glistened across the slim, corded muscles of Hiccup's chest and stomach, an entirely different heat flared low in his gut.

Hiccup gazed up at him, his smile falling away. His chest was heaving up and down with every breath, his eyes dark, heavy lidded and inviting. Jack swallowed the sudden lump behind his adams apple and leaned down to lick at the hollow of Hiccup's throat, tasting the salt that had gathered along his clavicle. Underneath the fog in his brain and the need coursing through his veins, he marveled that he could have this, that Hiccup's long fingers came up to bury in his hair and graze his scalp, squeezing in encouragement when he covered the flesh over Hiccup's collar bone with his mouth and sucked.

"Jack..."

Hiccup made a small noise in the back of his throat and tugged at his locks. So Jack released the skin he'd been worrying with his lips and teeth near Hiccup's jaw with a soft pop, and raised himself to hover over Hiccup's face. He let Hiccup pull him down, and accepted the press of his lips. He breathed through his nose and sank into him, reveling in the way Hiccup's long legs wrapped around his hips and pulled him closer until they fit together like puzzle pieces.

He nibbled at Hiccup's swollen lower lip, and Hiccup licked into his mouth, taking his time. Jack sighed and closed his eyes, enveloped in Hiccup's warmth. He burned from within like a match had been lit inside of him for the first time in centuries. He didn't think it would ever go out...

When he opened his eyes again, the room was really, really bright.

And it hurt. A lot.

His head throbbed painfully like he was being stabbed through his eye sockets every time he opened his eyes. So he squeezed them shut and groaned, a weak, strangled sound in the back of his throat. When he attempted to crack his eyes open again, he did so tentatively, first one then the other. His eyelids were sticky and puffy, and his vision was blurry. He blinked rapidly until objects finally began to come into focus.

He stilled when the first thing he saw was Hiccup staring back at him, his dark brows knit and his green gaze searching. His head was resting against the pillow beside Jack's, and the rest of him was hidden, buried beneath the fur covers.

"Hey," Jack croaked, his throat scratchy and raw. His head throbbed again and his stomach lurched alarmingly. He tried to swallow, but then his stomach clenched and he pressed a hand to his mouth.

"Hi," Hiccup replied softly, his scratchy voice a little too loud in the silence of the room, even though Jack knew he must have only been murmuring.

"Hiccup?" Jack asked, his voice muffled behind his hand.

"Yeah?" Hiccup's brows knit further. He looked like a deer caught in the head lights, and Jack would have commented on that, but…

"I think I'm gonna…" He trailed off, unable to speak further as saliva flooded his mouth. That was not a good sign.

"What?" Hiccup asked, but then Jack made an urgent noise in the back of his throat and puffed his cheeks out, and Hiccup's eyes widened. "Oh…OH! Wait, WAIT!"

Hiccup scrambled out of the bed, knocking Jack's leg off of his in the process, which alerted Jack for the first time that somehow their legs must have been entangled beneath the covers without him even realizing it, and Hiccup tumbled to the floor, before he popped right back up and practically ran to the door. Jack sat up, thinking he might have to roll over to the other side of the bed and relieve himself there, but then Hiccup shoved a metal bucket under his nose, and yep…there were fish bones at the bottom that smelled just like rotting fish.

That'd do it.

Jack's stomach heaved violently and he ripped his hand away from his mouth just in time to lose it straight into the bucket. Vaguely, he could sense Hiccup hovering behind him and his ears burned with shame, but he didn't have much time to dwell on that before he retched again, his entire body trembling. All the while, his head was still pounding and the room was spinning like he was on a merry-go-round, which didn't help with the retching. He continued to do that for a while, the muscles in his abdomen starting to ache from all the clenching and purging in general.

By the time his stomach finally stopped spasming and he was able to sit back up without bile rising up the back of his throat, he was exhausted and shaking. His skin had broken out in a cold sweat, so that even though he felt feverish, he also shivered uncontrollably, chilled to the bone. He swallowed around the lump in his throat and felt deeply sorry for himself. Everything in his body ached, and he felt like he was dying. And he should know what that felt like, because yeah…been there, done that.

Ugh. Nevermind. He hated alcohol. It sucked and he would never imbibe it again. The Puritans were right. Satan's well-water, indeed.

Hiccup pulled the bucket out of his weakened grasp and put it down on the floor at the foot of the bed. His nose crinkled when he looked down at it, but when he glanced back up at Jack, his brows knit with concern instead of disgust. So, Jack was grateful for that.

"You okay?" Hiccup asked.

"Nnngh," Jack replied and he slowly leaned back until his throbbing head hit the pillow. " 's too bright. Much noise. Dying."

Hiccup's lips twitched, but he coughed into his fist, and walked away. Jack closed his eyes and heard Hiccup's uneven steps on the floorboards just before something cool and wet was draped over his forehead. Jack blinked his eyes open and found Hiccup leaning over him, pressing the thing, probably a wet cloth, to his head.

"Better?" Hiccup asked softly.

"A little," Jack croaked, and almost gagged again because he tasted his own mouth and it was horrible.

He scratched an itch on his own chest beneath the furs and found it suspiciously bare. Then he eyed Hiccup's distractingly well-toned torso and found it also suspiciously devoid of clothing. He took the opportunity and stared blearily at the expanse of freckled skin, lighter than the skin on his face and smoother. It was unmarred, but for a line of small, purple bruises that traversed the thin wing of his collarbone and ended just beneath his jaw on the left side of his throat. Something tightened in Jack's gut at the sight, and without thinking, he pulled his hand out from beneath the covers and traced the line of bruises with his fingers. "What?"

Hiccup's lips parted around a hitched breath, but he didn't bat Jack's fingers away like he'd expected.

Jack pulled them back on his own as if burned, weird, vague images dancing across his mind. "Did I…?"

"You don't…uh…" Hiccup's adams apple bobbed in his throat, his expression vulnerable. "Remember?"

Jack shook his head, then stopped and nodded, because yeah, parts of it were coming back to him now and…oh my god. He was pretty sure his brain broke, because a few of the memories just repeated in his mind on a loop, and the first thing that tumbled out of his mouth was, "Was it good?"

Hiccup just stared at him, still as a rock, and Jack was horrified because he just wouldn't stop talking. Why. "It was bad?"

"No!" Hiccup yelped, and Jack flinched, because ow, his head, but Hiccup coughed into his hand and looked everywhere but at Jack's face as his ears reddened. "I mean…no...it was…"

He just sort of trailed off and Jack's gaze flickered down to Hiccup's crotch and back up again. "Did we…?"

Hiccup followed his gaze down to his own lap and quickly looked away, his eyes wide. He looked like he'd swallowed his tongue. "Um…no," he squeaked and crossed his arms over his chest, rubbing his bare biceps with his hands. He kept his gaze averted, his face as red as a beat. "I mean…we might have…eventually? But you sort of, passed out…on top of me."

Jack stared at him, completely horrified, and then he planted his hand over his eyes and groaned, letting his hand slowly run down his face, because seriously? "Oh my god."

Then he jumped out of his skin because the ceiling moaned and creaked like something heavy had stomped over it, and he winced as his head throbbed alarmingly. "Ow."

"Sorry," Hiccup apologized and he plucked the now luke-warm cloth off of Jack's forehead. He picked at the damp cloth in his hand, and stared up at the wooden rafters. "Sounds like Toothless is awake," he murmured and he pushed a hand through his own dark locks, looking tired.

Jack glanced up at the rafters as well, clouds of dust materializing every time something banged on the roof. He hoped that meant Toothless had spent the night outside, because ew…he did not want to think about the dragon watching him and Hiccup…yeah, gross. Fortunately, he was pretty sure the dragon would agree.

"Would you like some water?" Hiccup asked. "Or some breakfast?"

"How do you not feel like death?" Jack questioned blearily, because just the thought of food made his stomach churn.

Hiccup stared at him for a moment, then he shrugged, scratching the side of his nose. "I've worked up a tolerance, I guess."

"Lucky," Jack mumbled and buried his nose in the furs, hiding a pout beneath the covers, because that was highly unfair.

Hiccup blinked and his expression softened, his lips curving into a lopsided smile. Jack's abused stomach swooped and warmth blossomed in his chest, because Hiccup was looking at him like those girls had looked at Hiccup last night, and he didn't know how to deal with that.

The enormity of the situation snuck up on him then, all at once, because they'd actually _kissed_. Hiccup had put his lips on his and he had put his lips on Hiccup, and Hiccup was still talking to him like he wasn't going to run away any minute now, like he wasn't disgusted at all by his presence. In fact, he'd woken up to Hiccup's face next to his face, and their legs had been entangled. _Entangled_. Beneath the covers. In _Hiccup's bed_. And now Hiccup was asking him if he wanted breakfast. Just…what? He couldn't even wrap his head around it. Was this real life? Was he dreaming?

If he was, he hoped he never woke up.

Hiccup blinked rapidly, dispelling whatever trance-like state he'd gotten himself into; the one that had made him gaze at Jack like he'd hung the stars in the sky; and Jack watched him get up, open the door, and leave, feeling like a part of him was going right out the door with him. His heart literally sank into his sour stomach in Hiccup's absence, and leapt right back up into his throat when Hiccup returned with a goblet in his hand. It was ridiculous, and scary, and wonderful. Tuffnut would have probably made up a single, unnecessarily long word for that.

Hiccup sat back down at the edge of the bed, biting his lip, and offered Jack the goblet.

Jack turned onto his back and sat up until he was resting back against the head board. He took the offered goblet and sipped from it, the cold water within sliding down his aching throat and soothing it. When he was done, he lowered it to his lap and pushed a hand through his matted hair, suddenly shy. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Hiccup shrugged, his green eyes warm.

They stared at each other.

Then Hiccup opened his mouth. "Jack…do you – "

But something banged on the door and Hiccup shot up from the bed, scrambling for his olive green tunic, which was still bunched up in a pile on the floor where he'd tossed it last night. He pushed it over his head, inside-out, but Jack didn't have the chance to tell him that before Hiccup said, "Coming!" and he opened the door.

Jack just managed to raise the furs up over his bare chest before he saw the hulking figure on the other side of the threshold, and he stiffened.

"Dad!" Hiccup exclaimed and he flailed a bit. "Um…dad. Hi, dad…hi. So…what're you…?"

Stoick sent him an odd look, frowning through his thick beard. "Son," he greeted. Then his nose scrunched up, much like Hiccup's had earlier. "What is that smell?"

"Uhhh…sorry." Hiccup jerked and he glanced back at Jack for a fleeting moment. "Jack had a little too much mead last night, so…"

"Ah, say no more," Stoick muttered, and he eyed Jack over Hiccup's head. "Make sure he's hydrated."

Jack nodded to him and raised his goblet. "Will do…um…sir."

"Yeah," Hiccup agreed, voice strained. "So…what brings you…?"

"Well, I'd just heard," Stoick started, but his gaze flickered over to Jack for a moment, before landing back on his son. "That is to say…Gobber informed me that you and Astrid have..."

"Oh…" Hiccup uttered, his shoulders slumping. "Yeah…she…yeah…"

Stoick frowned, looking uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, son."

"Thanks," Hiccup murmured, pushing a hand through his hair.

"Yes, well," Stoick boomed and he clapped his son on the shoulder with his giant hand. "You know what they say. Plenty of fish in the sea." He smiled. "In fact, Gobber tells me there are a lot of Viking girls from the other tribes for you to choose from."

"Oh…uh…yeah," Hiccup uttered, his hands opening and closing at his sides.

"Maybe you can woo one of them at the race today," Stoick whispered conspiratorially. "Impress a strong Viking lass with your superior dragon-riding skills, eh?"

"Yeah…ahah," Hiccup replied awkwardly, bobbing on his foot and swinging an arm from side to side. "Sure thing, dad."

"That's my boy." Stoick clapped him on the shoulder again. "It still isn't too late to settle down with a good shield maiden and start a family."

"Okay…" Hiccup muttered weakly.

Stoick smiled and Hiccup just stood there.

"Right, well," Stoick put his large, beefy hands on his large, beefy hips and rocked once back and forth on his feet. "Good luck in the race today."

"Yeah, you too," Hiccup replied faintly. "Or whatever."

Stoick turned and walked back down the hill. Hiccup closed the door and stood in the same spot, staring at it, unmoving for a really, really long time.

When he finally turned around, he caught Jack's eye and they both seemed to be thinking the exact same thing. Jack was pretty sure the sentiment was plastered all over his own face, at any rate.

Crap.

…

AN: I have come to realize something very shocking. Prepare yourselves. My Jack is a giant doofus and my Hiccup is an attractive butthole, and together they are little shits who are ruining my life. This chapter took forever, but I couldn't rest until it was done. I should have been writing my novel, but NOPE. Guess not. Had to write drunken Hijack.

Also, remember kids: alcohol is only good in moderation. Jack learned that the hard way. Don't drink and drive. Say no to drugs. Too cool for school. Yadda yadda. Etc.

And did you notice how the fic rating just got bumped up from General Audiences to Teen and Up? Yeah, this poop is just about to get real. ;)

Please let me know if you're reading and enjoying or hating this, because I'd really like to know. :)

Until next time!


	8. Chapter 8

How to Find Your Center

Chapter 8

Hiccup stumbled back to the bed and tumbled onto it face-first, groaning.

Jack grimaced in sympathy, because yeah, this sucked.

"This is just like Toothless all over again," Hiccup moaned, his voice muffled by the furs.

"Wait…" Jack uttered, lowering the covers back down to his lap. "Am I Toothless in this scenario?"

Hiccup turned his head and stared at him. "Yes."

"I see." Jack's lips twitched. "Is there something you want to tell me about you and Toothless, or…?"

"Argh…Jack!" Hiccup grimaced, and he picked up the nearest pillow and threw it at him.

Jack batted the pillow away and laughed, which really wasn't a good idea, because it only made him more nauseous. He stopped to swallow the bile that had been crawling up his throat. Yeah, he was never drinking that much mead again.

Hiccup glared at him, looking miserable with his cheek still smashed against the furs, and Jack sobered. He picked at the woolen pillow that had fallen onto his lap and bit his lip.

"Did you not…" he paused, uncertain. "Do you regret it?" he asked, heart pounding in his throat.

Hiccup's eyelids fluttered as he gazed at him. Then he shook his head slowly, and when he spoke, his voice soft and hesitant. "Do you?"

Jack's lips twitched up into a smile, unbidden, and he pushed a hand along the side of his head, running his fingers through his matted hair. He glanced away, his cheeks heating as memories from the night before resurfaced in his mind. "Definitely not."

When he finally let himself look back at Hiccup again, he caught him smiling, too.

He bit the inside of his cheek and took a chance, leaning forward to graze the sharp line of Hiccup's stubbled jaw with his fingertips. Hiccup sighed at the touch and his eyelids fluttered shut. He raised his left hand and covered the back of Jack's, pressing his palm to his cheek. Then Hiccup released a long breath through his parted lips, but when he opened his eyes, his brows were knit again.

"What am I going to do?" he murmured.

Jack sighed. "What did you do with Toothless?"

"Something stupid," Hiccup muttered.

"Did it work?" Jack asked, tilting his head.

Hiccup shook his head minutely and Jack ran his thumb along the ridge of his cheek bone, just beneath his eye, marveling that he could. "Not at first."

"What did you do that _did_ work?" Jack pressed dryly.

"I defeated a dragon," Hiccup sniffed.

"Oh," Jack breathed. "So, I guess…in this scenario, you'd have to defeat another…" He slid his hand off of Hiccup's cheek and gestured to himself, lips twitching.

Hiccup snorted. "Do you happen to know any _other_ ice spirits-turned-human I can find around here?"

"Well, no." Jack grinned. "I'm one of a kind, like a special and very unique snowflake."

Hiccup laughed, then buried his nose in the furs, muffling the sound. "Oh…you're special, alright."

"Darn right I am," Jack agreed with a smirk, totally ignoring the sarcasm dripping from Hiccup's tone and expression.

Hiccup turned his head to eye him. Then he grunted and levered himself up until he was sitting with one leg crossed under him and his prosthetic foot dangling off the side of the bed. He fiddled with his fingers in his lap, his brows knit and his gaze distant.

Jack's smirk slid off of his face, and he raised a hand to press his thumb over the crease between Hiccup's eyebrows in an attempt to smooth it. Hiccup looked up at him, his pained expression unchanged. So Jack relented and leaned back against the head board. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." Hiccup shook his head and his lips ticked up at one corner into a crooked, self-deprecating smile. His eye lids were heavy, his expression wry. "I've always done things differently from the rest of my tribe. Why should this be any different?" He sighed and looked away. "Besides, this isn't the first time I've had this argument with my father."

"Wait…you've – ?" Jack spluttered. "With a guy?"

"No!" Hiccup blurted, his eyes wide, and he shook his head. "No…that part's…uh…" His gaze flittered about the room before he caught Jack's eye again. "That part's new."

"Oh," Jack uttered, confused.

"He wanted me to settle down with Astrid," Hiccup admitted. "Start a family with her, among other things. It's why I'd left Berk before you arrived."

Jack's brows rose in surprise. "Wow. It sounds like you and your dad have some serious communication issues. You were gone for two months, weren't you?"

Hiccup winced. "Yeah…"

"Well, it definitely explains the tense atmosphere around here when you came back," Jack murmured. He didn't even mention Astrid's reaction, because yeah, he was pretty sure Hiccup remembered that, too.

Hiccup frowned and he gazed out at the sunlit room, looking miserable again.

Jack shifted in the bed, chewing his lip. He sucked in a deep breath and let it out through his nose, because he was about to confess something he'd never admitted to anyone before, and it was sort of painful; even more than the throbbing in his head. "I'd never told my parents."

Hiccup glanced back at him then, his gaze searching.

"They wouldn't have been happy about it." Jack shrugged in an attempt to play off the ache that blossomed in his chest. He wasn't sure it was effective. "It wasn't…it was _frowned_ upon."

Hiccup watched him. "Is that why you'd never…been with anyone before?"

Jack shrugged again, surprised when his vision blurred and his eyes stung. He blinked rapidly. It hurt so much more than it should have. His old life, his first life, was so long ago and yet, he felt like he was back in it now – a life he hadn't even remembered after he'd risen from that pond in the light of the moon over three hundred years ago. He'd been so blissfully unaware for so long, but the memories were like embers. They burned away his ignorance until he was left with nothing to guard him from his past and all of the things that had apparently defined him, all of the things he'd been running from before the icy water had swallowed him up.

"There was this one friend I'd had," he explained, his voice thick. He shook his head and swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I was stupid and I…" he huffed a laugh, but it was feeble at best. "I tried to kiss him. He didn't take it well."

Hiccup's eyes widened a bit, but he didn't say anything.

Jack sucked in air through his mouth and it hitched in his throat. "He never told anyone, but I had to cover the welt on my cheek when I got back home." He resisted raising a hand up to his cheek right where it had discolored the skin black and blue and yellow. He remembered how much it had hurt, how surprised he'd been. He'd stumbled back from the force of the blow, tripping over a rock and hitting his back against an oak tree. His friend had just stood there, his chest heaving and his expression murderous. Jack hadn't said anything as his friend spat on the ground and told him to never touch him again. He'd just slid down the trunk of the tree, until he was resting against it and staring at his hands in his lap. He'd sat there for a long time, until the sun had set red in the east and the full moon had risen into the clear night sky.

"I spent a lot more time alone or with my sister after that," he continued with a grin, but his lips trembled. "My parents thought I was being a good big brother. Everyone else in the village was settling down, starting families, including my friend. I think my sister knew…about me, and she never…" he huffed a soft breath. "She was a good kid. I would've done anything to protect her, to make sure she was happy. My life was meaningless compared to that. So…in the end…"

"Jack…" Hiccup uttered roughly, and his breath hitched in the silence.

Jack pressed his lips together so that no sound could escape. He tried to push down his emotions, which were stronger than they should have been, lodged in his throat and choking him. But Hiccup shook his head and cradled Jack's face in his hands. He pressed his warm palms along his jaw and skirted the pads of his thumbs over his cheek bones. Jack looked up into his dark green eyes to find them creased at the corners like Hiccup was the one in pain.

"Jack…" Hiccup repeated. "Your life was never meaningless."

Jack huffed out a laugh, but his vision blurred and something wet slid down his cheek. Hiccup brushed his thumb across it, smearing it along his jaw bone, and Jack closed his eyes, shaking with laughter that he couldn't seem to stop. It took him a moment to realize it wasn't laughter at all, though, as more droplets slid down his cheeks. The next breath he took caught in his throat and he released it in a sob.

He wailed, his breath hitching in his chest and burning in his lungs. His face grew hot and wet, and he had to open his mouth to breathe. He vaguely felt Hiccup's forehead come to rest against his. Hiccup's long fingers slid up his jaw until they were buried in his hair, holding him steady as the sobs wracked through him. Jack's ears burned from embarrassment even as his body shook. He must have looked disgusting, his nose was dripping and his face was hot in Hiccup's hands. He tried to swallow the sounds he was making, but he wasn't too successful. It only made him gasp for breath more.

It was startling in its intensity, the pain he could feel rising out of him, but beneath that he was aware of Hiccup's thumbs brushing along the back of his ear, his fingers gripping his scalp, and it anchored him, dulling the pain like a cool balm spreading over an old wound.

He took in a shuddery breath, and he felt his shoulders unwind as he tasted the salt water at the back of his throat. He'd had no idea this had been hiding inside of him. Had it been there all along? He couldn't say. He'd carried a lot of pain within him for so long, both as a human and a spirit, but it had always been something he could ignore; something weak, like an echo. Even in his first life, he remembered, he'd pushed it all down until it was so small and insignificant he couldn't feel it. He'd expended all of his energy in making sure his sister was happy, and it had made him happy. Because…what else could he have done? He hadn't cared that he might die that day. He hadn't been sad about it, either. It had been instinct.

The trembling weakened and he exhaled through his nose. No, he hadn't been sad about it. He'd been ready.

Was that bad?

The Man in the Moon seemed to think it was something worth preserving; something of value. So he'd given Jack a new life, another chance, and Jack was grateful. Now more than ever.

Hiccup sat back and gazed at him, his fingers still buried in his hair.

Jack ran a hand across his puffy eyes, smearing the last of his tears across his face and sniffling. "Sorry."

Hiccup shook his head, his brows still knit. He looked so concerned.

Inexplicably, Jack wanted to laugh, and he couldn't help chuckling wetly. "Don't worry about me. It happened a long time ago. I…it was just unexpected."

"I'm not worried," Hiccup denied and his gaze flit away for a moment before he caught his eye again. "I just haven't ever…" His adam's apple bobbed in his throat. "We only met two days ago, but…it feels like I've known you for a lot longer. Does that make any sense?"

Jack nodded, because yeah, it made too much sense. He felt the same way, and he didn't know why. This wasn't even his world or his time. He and Hiccup should have never even met.

Hiccup nodded, too. "I'm just…I'm really glad you're here."

Jack smiled, helpless against the fluttering in his chest right behind his sternum. It felt like his heart was expanding, filling the space the ache had left empty. "Me too."

They stared at each other for a long moment, then Hiccup's gaze flickered down to Jack's lips. Hiccup shifted forward and Jack nodded minutely, his heart leaping into his throat, but then, of course, something banged against the door so hard it rattled against its frame. They both stilled and Hiccup let out a breath, ducking his head before he finally spared the door an exasperated look. Jack snorted and wiped at his eyes again, equal parts exasperated and amused at the interruption because this seemed to be a thing. A thing that would be happening a lot.

Hiccup's lips quirked in response and he swung his head back to look at Jack, his eye lids at half-mast as if to say, 'welcome to my life.'

Jack shook his head with a smile and nudged Hiccup in the shoulder. "You'd better get that."

Hiccup chuckled and got up, the mattress creaking under his weight. He bent over and scooped Jack's tunic off of the floor where it had fallen the night before, then threw it at him with a lopsided smile. "Put a shirt on."

Jack caught the cool bundle of cloth with a grin and slipped it on, making sure it wasn't inside out like Hiccup's. He was about to point that out, in fact, but Hiccup had already grabbed the handle and opened the door. Fishleg's formidable figure was on the other side, and Jack's muscles unwound in relief. At least it wasn't Hiccup's father again.

"Have you guys seen Ruffnut?" Fishlegs asked anxiously before Hiccup could get a word in.

Actually, now that Jack got a really good look at him, Fishlegs appeared a bit worse for wear, his winged helmet missing and his eyes puffy and heavily bagged like he hadn't slept a wink.

"Um…no," Hiccup replied, and Jack shook his head. "Why? Is she missing?"

"Um…" Fishlegs rocked on his feet and twiddled his fingers. "Not exactly?"

Hiccup sighed. "What happened?"

Fishlegs bit his lip and fidgeted. He looked like he was about to explode, before he released a long, loud breath that also happened to contain a lot of words. "Ohhhhhh, I drank too much mead and messed everything up and she ran away and now I don't know if I can ever show my face in front of her again!" He sucked in a breath, his cheeks splotchy and red, and his expression crumpled into one of great despair.

Hiccup pushed a hand through his hair and sighed again. He glanced back at Jack and Jack shared his frown, because yeah, this was awkward. Hiccup turned back to Fishlegs and stepped away from the door, pulling it further open. "Would you like to come in?"

Fishlegs slumped forward and nodded dolefully. He trudged into the room like a man without purpose, and Hiccup put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll…uh...go get some fish."

"Thanks," Fishlegs mumbled and he plopped down heavily on the lip of the unlit fire pit, right next to Jack's dry, blue hoody. Hiccup left, closing the door behind him, and Fishlegs sighed. "I shouldn't have had so much mead."

"You and me both," Jack commiserated, his stomach still burning, and he turned to sit on the edge of the bed, staring at Fishlegs's broad back.

Fishlegs glanced back at him. "I bet you didn't do anything life-alteringly stupid, though."

Jack's brows rose. "Actually, you'd be surprised."

Hiccup reentered, followed by Toothless, who glared at Jack with narrow-slitted eyes the moment he spotted him. Jack frowned. The dragon was probably miffed about the whole sexile thing. Although, to be fair to Jack, no sex actually occurred. No, he'd made sure of that when he'd passed out on top of Hiccup mid-make out. Jack slid a hand down his face in retroactive embarrassment, because ugh. Yeah, maybe it was best that they hadn't gotten that far. His cheeks flushed. Actually, no, it really was best that they hadn't because they'd been highly impaired and definitely not thinking clearly, and it could've been very, very bad for many, many reasons. But he could've _not_ passed out on top of Hiccup. That could have been a thing. He could've at least stopped and rolled off like a gentleman, before he'd presumably crushed him with his dead weight. That could've been cool. Passing out on top of someone you were very much attracted to and wanted to impress was decidedly not cool. He scratched at the back of his neck. Ugh.

Also, he needed a bath.

"Hey, Hic?"

Hiccup speared a cod onto the metal poker in his grip and handed it to Fishlegs before he glanced at him questioningly.

"Is there anywhere I can…uh…clean up?" Jack grimaced. Now that he really thought about it, he'd probably needed a bath yesterday, or at least, that's how often the people of Burgess seemed to need to bathe. Not so much the Puritans, but they'd also thought Satan was in the well water, so…

"Oh…uh…yeah, sorry." Hiccup bounced on his foot and frowned, looking sheepish. "I've set up a, sort of, bathing hut out back if you want to…?"

"Bathing hut?" Jack repeated, frowning.

"Hiccup invented it," Fishlegs explained with a shrug. "It's quite ingenious, actually. We don't really use it much, but I have to admit, it is nice after riding for five hours on the back of a Gronkle."

"Uh…alright," Jack uttered, still a bit vague as to what this 'bathing hut' entailed, but he was willing to roll with it if it meant he'd no longer smell like a yak.

Hiccup speared the third cod and gestured toward the door. "Just follow me." He turned, but then he stopped and glanced back at him. "And…uh…you should probably bring your old clothes." He pointed at the tan trousers, blue hoody and underpants Jack had splayed out over the stones of the fire pit a few nights ago.

Jack nodded, grateful to be able to wear his original clothes again, and underpants were always a plus. "Good call."

Luckily for him, the bathing hut turned out to be a quaint, wooden shack with a pointed roof that sat at the back of the house just in front of the tree line. They were able to avoid notice by the crowd that was already gathering at the bottom of the hill in the village center as they rounded the house. Toothless followed them out, but nudged his giant head between Hiccup and Jack so that they were forced to be as separate as possible. Hiccup opened the wooden door to the hut and revealed a giant metal tub inside, perched over a mound of coal. The tub was already full of clear water.

Hiccup entered first and Toothless shot a blast of fire into the coals for him, but the dragon did it grudgingly, eyeing Jack suspiciously all the while.

When the dragon ambled out of the cramped space, Jack entered and stared at the set-up, impressed. It was almost modern in its design, like a tub he could see in any bathroom in Burgess. "Nice. You built this?"

Hiccup shrugged and coughed into his fist. "Yeah…you know, with a few modifications over the years."

Jack grinned at him. Hiccup was cute when he tried to be modest. He nudged Hiccup's shoulder with his and raised a brow. "It looks pretty big. Care to join me?"

Hiccup stiffened and stared at him wide-eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Jack laughed. "Relax, Hic. I was only joking."

"Why?" Fishlegs asked, and both Jack and Hiccup jumped, turning to see Fishlegs looming in the doorway behind them. Fishlegs eyed Jack, looking genuinely confused. "We bathe together all the time."

"Uhhh…" Jack glanced at Hiccup in shock.

Hiccup sent Fishlegs an exasperated look, before he finally glanced at Jack and scratched his nose. His gaze flit about the small space, looking everywhere but at him. "It saves time and water," he muttered with a shrug. "Not that the others use it as much as I do. Usually, I'm alone."

"It's probably for the best," Fishlegs admitted. "The last time we all took a bath, Snotlout kept on passing gas in the water and blaming it on Meatlug." He scowled. "She wasn't even in the tub!"

Jack stared at him, equally grossed out and intrigued. On the one hand, that was disgusting, but on the other hand, with the right company…He eyed Hiccup surreptitiously, then the tub, his face heating. Its generous size made a lot more sense now. It could probably fit about four Viking men comfortably inside of it. "Okay…"

"I'm gonna take one after the race…though," Hiccup offered, still avoiding his gaze.

"Right," Jack replied, but his mind felt a little glazed over now as he imagined things taking place in that tub that he really shouldn't be with Fishlegs present. "Good."

Hiccup was staring at the tub as well now, biting his lip. Then he shook his head.

"Oookay!" He blurted, and his green eyes darted about as he switched his weight from his foot to his prosthetic and swung his arms. "I'll just…leave you to it, then…" he backed out the door, looking flustered. "So...yup."

Hiccup's prosthetic got stuck in a divot in the grass outside and he stumbled a bit before he could tug it out. He looked up with a grimace and saw Jack shake his head a bit. Then Jack smiled back at him, his amber eyes warm. Hiccup swallowed around the lump in his throat and closed the door, sighing when he could no longer see him.

He stepped back on wobbly legs, and he felt Fishlegs eyeing him. He stiffened self-consciously. "What're you looking at?"

Fishlegs tensed. "Nothing! Nothing." But he twiddled his fingers and bit his lower lip anxiously.

Hiccup eyed him warily and unconsciously brought his hand up to cover the sore spots along the side of his throat and jaw. The slight pressure of his fingers sent an unexpected jolt up and down his spine and he pulled his hand away as if burned. His breath caught in his throat until he released it in a shaky sigh, and he glanced at Fishlegs again. "Come on…we still have to cook breakfast."

He followed Fishlegs back into the room and Toothless nudged him in the side with a low warble before the dragon moved past him and settled down on his favorite stone ledge in the corner. Toothless didn't even look at him and Hiccup grimaced. Toothless was obviously still sore about being kept outside all night. Hiccup remembered a time not too long ago when the dragon actually liked sleeping on the roof, but now…he shook his head and decided to just let Toothless stew for a while. Maybe he'd be in a better mood in time for the race. At least, he hoped so. It wasn't fun riding with him when he was mad at him.

Fishlegs settled on the lip of the fire pit again, and twirled the cod on his poker over the unlit coals. Determined to leave Toothless alone, Hiccup dug his fire sword out from where he kept it stashed next to his desk and unsheathed it. The friction created a spark that ignited the Monstrous Nightmare saliva slathered all over the rods. Then he plunged the rods into the coals until they lit as well. When he was sure the fire in the pit was strong enough to stay lit on its own, he re-sheathed the sword, putting out the fire at the same time, and placed it back by his desk.

Fishlegs, who was usually transfixed by this display, barely seemed to notice it now, his expression and posture listless as he gazed morosely into the flames of the fire pit.

Hiccup speared his own cod and sat down beside him. "Want to talk about it?"

Fishlegs glanced at him and groaned. "Not especially."

Hiccup frowned with concern, but he didn't press it. "Okay."

Fishlegs fidgeted. "She's probably in the mead hall with everyone else."

Hiccup eyed him. "Yeah…probably."

"And she'll be at the race, too," Fishlegs continued morosely.

"Yeah, well, she is participating in the race with us, so…" Hiccup shrugged, glancing at his friend.

"I don't think I can go," Fishlegs moaned and he buried his face in his hands.

"Wha – ? Fishlegs," Hiccup uttered. "I'm sure it wasn't _that_ bad."

"It was!" Fishlegs cried and he uncovered his face to look Hiccup straight in the eye. He gestured so violently with the rod in his hand that his cod flew off the end and hit the wall behind him with a loud smack. "I proposed to her in front of her parents!"

"Ah…" Hiccup uttered, overwhelmed. "Well…that's…not so bad, I mean." He fished for some way to justify that statement, but he came up blank. So, he got up and fished for the cod, instead, picking it up off the floor and brushing it off on his pant leg, before handing it back to Fishlegs who took it gratefully.

Fishlegs speared the cod on the end of his poker again and twisted it over the fire in jerky movements. "I'm so stupid."

"Hey…" Hiccup murmured and he pat Fishlegs on the back. "I'm sure she's already forgotten about it."

"Hiccup," Fishlegs looked at him, desperation in his wide eyes. "She told me she would never marry me if I was the last Viking on Berk and she said she would never forget what I had done. Then she made Tuffnut swear to remind her if she forgot in the morning."

"Oh…" Hiccup winced. "But...are you sure that'll work? I mean, Tuffnut isn't exactly the most reliable. Maybe he forgot, too?" He vaguely remembered Tuffnut falling all over that shield maiden the night before. "He was pretty drunk last night."

Fishlegs frowned and chewed his bottom lip.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup murmured seriously. "You shouldn't drop out of the race. What would..." He thought quickly, and realized he'd have to go for Fishlegs's ultimate weakness. "How would Meatlug feel?"

Fishlegs eyed him morosely, but Hiccup's gamble seemed to work, because he broke down and nodded. "You're right, Hiccup. I can't disappoint her. She's been _so_ excited."

"Exactly." Hiccup gave him a lopsided smile, relieved. "And uh...besides, Ruffnut probably won't even care about what happened last night now that she's sober again. You know how she gets when she's had too much mead."

"Yeah," Fishlegs agreed, smiling weakly. "She can get pretty scary."

They both shuddered. Hiccup was pretty sure Fislegs was also reliving all the times Ruffnut damaged property and other Vikings when she was enraged and drunk at the same time, which happened a lot more often than Hiccup was comfortable with. Yep. She could be scarier than Astrid with an axe. He wasn't so sure why Fishlegs would go for her, but they were Vikings. It was an occupational hazard. Viking women were tough.

They ate in companionable silence, until the door creaked open and Hiccup stiffened. He turned around to see Jack standing in the doorway, his cheeks a splotchy pink and his dark hair wet and plastered to his forehead and neck. He was wearing his original clothes now along with the boots Hiccup had lent him.

Jack grinned, showing off his white teeth, his hands buried in the pockets of his sweater. "Thanks for letting me use your bath, Hic. It was great. Refreshing, even."

Hiccup nodded, but his stomach swooped violently. Jack was apparently attractive in whatever he wore, but the blue sweater suited him and he seemed most comfortable in it which only added to the effect. Hiccup glanced away and fumbled for the third poker he'd set out over the pit while he and Fishlegs had eaten their cod, eager to do something with himself that didn't involve staring at Jack like an idiot. He turned and held it out for him, barely even looking at him. "Want some breakfast?"

"Sure." Jack tipped his head and took the rod out of Hiccup's grasp, but not without brushing his fingertips along the back of Hiccup's hand.

Hiccup bit his lip and Jack sat down beside him, flipping the rod over the pit in a casual arc. Hiccup glanced at him and couldn't help breathing him in. He smelled clean now, but more like fresh snow and pine than before. It was odd, but it made Hiccup relax, the scent soothing. Jack really was something other than human. No human being smelled so much like winter naturally. It was the most convincing evidence yet that Jack had been a frost spirit, and it was obvious that, in a way, a part of him still was. Hiccup frowned, something clenching in his gut, but he was interrupted before he could pursue that line of thought.

Jack nudged him in the side, ducking his head and eyeing him. "You okay?"

"Uh…yeah," Hiccup replied, bobbing his head, and he took a large bite out of his cod, finishing it.

Jack smiled and Hiccup swallowed, his lips twitching in response. Belatedly, he noticed Fishlegs glancing between them and he ripped his gaze away to look into the coals. Jack went back to eating his cod and they all fell back into a companionable silence, until someone outside blew into a yak horn.

"Uh…" Jack uttered, clearly nonplussed by the sound.

Hiccup stood up, and tugged on his armor, trying to swallow the butterflies that suddenly took flight in his gut. He hadn't felt this nervous in a while, but there were a lot of things on his mind with everything that had happened in the last 24 hours. He sighed. "That'd be the signal for the start of the race."

….

AN: Sorry for the long wait! A lot of big life events took place between this update and the last. I started full time at my job, moved out of my parents' house, nearly died in a hydroplane spin-out on the freeway, and started another term of my writing class. Life.

I actually wrote a bit of the next chapter as well, so hopefully I'll be able to release the next one in a lot less time.

And thank you all so, so much for reading and your wonderful feedback. Seriously, you are all the light of my life and the wind beneath my wings. ;) Stay awesome!


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